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STONE-CHATS. 


THE 


PLAYTIME  NATURALIST 


BY 


Dr.   J.    E.   TAYLOR,   F.  L.  S, 

EDITOR  OF   "science-gossip" 


V/ITH   THREE  HUNDRED  AND  SIXTY-SIX  ILLUSTRATIONS 


NEW  YORK 

D.  APPLETON   AND   COMPANY 

1889 


Authorized  Edition. 


PREFACE. 

The  writer  of  this  book  has  a  liking  for  intelligent 
English  lads,  just  as  some  people  have  for  blue 
china  and  etchings.  He  ventures  to  think  the 
former  are  even  more  interesting  objects.  And, 
as  the  writer  was  once  a  boy  himself,  and  vividly 
remembers  the  never-to-be-forgotten  rambles  and 
observations  of  the  objects  in  the  country  ;  and, 
moreover,  as  he  treasures  up  such  reminiscences 
as  the  most  pleasant  and  innocent  of  an  active 
man's  life,  he  thought  he  could  not  do  better  than 
enlist  this  younger  generation  in  the  same  loves 
and  the  same  pleasures.  He  has  endeavoured  to 
do  his  best  for  his  human  hobbies,  and  hopes 
their  lives  may  be  richer  and  sweeter  and  more 
manly,  for  what  he  has  introduced  them  to  in  the 

following  pages. 

Ipswich, 

December  17,  1888,  «(*^3 


\^^^ 


y 


CONTENTS. 

PAGE 
CHAPTER 

List  of  Illustrations             ...            .-.  •••     vii 

I.     Our  Natural  History  Society  ...  ...               i 

II.     First  Awakenings     ...            ...            •••  •••        9 

III.  Among  the  Birds            ...            ••.  ••♦              20 

IV.  Nimrods  among  the  Lepidoptera      ...  ...      50 

V.     Holiday  Rambles  and  Adventures  ...             83 

VI.     Land  Shells               ...            .••            •••  •••     ^24 

VII.     "They  go  a-fishing"      ...            ...  «••            M^ 

VIIL     A   New  Hunting-Ground  :  Among  the  Mites     163 

IX.     Toads,  Frogs,  Newts,  and  Reptiles  ...            179 

X.     Small  Fry     ...            ...            •.«            •••  •••     2°' 

XL     Invisible  Life     ...            ...            •••  •••            234 

XII.     Microscopic  Plants  ...            ...           »»»  •.•     251 

Index     ...            ...           ...           •.«  •'•           ^°° 


LIST   OF    ILLUSTRATIONS. 


A.chorutes  purpurescens  (magnified), 

ii8 
Actinophrys  aculeata,  243 

eichornii,  249 

sol,  242 

Amoeba    villosa,    with     compound 

pseudopodia,  240 
Anatomy  of  a  caterpillar,  104 
Antennce  of  fresh-water  shrimp,  151 
Anthomyra  pluvialis,  96 
Anurea  leptodra  (magnified),  229 
Aphis,  winged,  107 

,  wingless,  107 

Arrenurus,  female,  169 

atax,  178 

buccinator,  171,  177 

(under  side),  171 

ellipticus,   male  (upper   side), 


172 


frondator,  female,  174 

globator,  female,  1 76 

,  male,  176 

integrator,  1 75 

perforatus,  male,  1 70 

,  male  (under  side), 

rutilator,  174 

,  female,  174 

tricuspidator,  male,  173 

— —  truncatellus,  175 


171 


Asellus  aquaticus,  152 

Asilus  crabroniformis,  female,  93 


B 

Bedstraw  hawk  moth,  70 
Blackcap  warbler,  43 
Black-headed  bunting,  36 
Black-vein  moth,  79 
Blind  worm,  195 
Blowpipe  for  eggs,  47 
Bombylius  medius,  95 
Bordered  white  moth,  79 
Bramble-leaf  brand,  253 
Brindle  white-shot  moth,  77 
Bucentes  geniculatus,  92 
Button  galls  on  oak-leaf,  S8 


Cabinet  drawer  for  eggs,  48 
Candle-snufif  fungus,  257 
Case  of  caddis-worm,  151 

Limnephilus  flavicornis,  151 

Caterpillar  of  emperor  moth,  68 

,  cocoon,   and   image  of  small 

eggar  moth,  69 
of  puss  moth,  71 


Vlll 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Chalk  carpet  moth,  79 
Chrysalis  of  house-fly,  99 
Closterium  striolatum,  263 

Leibleinii,  263 

Cocoon  of  hydrophilus,  147 

water-spider,  114 

Collecting-bottle,  258 

for  diatoms,  260 

Colurus  deflexus,  231 

uncinatus,  230 

Common  house-fly  (enlarged),  97 
Conops  ralipes,  male,  91 
Corethra  plumiformis,  154 
Cosmarium  margaritiferum,  266 

,  empty  fronds,  266 

Cream-spotted  tiger  moth,  78 
Cristatella  mucedo,  219 

enlarged,    showing    polypes, 

220 

Cuckoo,  21 

D 

Daphnia  pulex,  204 

,  male,  205 

• ,  female,  205 

reticulata,  male,  206 

,  female,  206 


Degeeria  cincta  (magnified),  118 
Diagram  of  larva  of  gnat,  157 
Diphthera  orion,  74 
Dipper,  the,  41 
Drills  for  eggs,  47 
Duck-weed,  210 


E 


Early  thorn  moth,  76 

Egg  bag  of  common  gnat,  155 

drills,  47 

of  buff  tip,  58 


Egg  of  cabbage  moth,  59 

of  common  magpie  moth,  59 

of  house-fl.y,  98 

of  meadow  brown  butterfly,  58 

of  Pieris  brassicae,  58 

of  Polyommatus  corydon,  59 

of  small  copper,  39 

of  stone-mite,  165 

of  Vanessa  atalanta,  58 

Eggs  of  gnat  in  various  stages,  156 
newt  wrapped  in  leaves,  show- 
ing development,  185 

ranatra  deposited  on  leaves  of 


frog-bit,  150 
Emperor  moth,  67 
End  of  frond  of  Closterium  lunula 

(magnified),  264 
End  of  hair-worm,  153 
Euastrum  didalta,  267 

margaritiferum,  267 

oblongatum,  267 

(front  view),  266 

(side  view),  266 

Euchlanis  (retracted),  229 

(exserted),  231 

Eyes  of  spider,  1 10 
water-flea,  208 


First  stage  in  development  of  hydra, 
212 

Floxularia  cornuta,  228 

Foot  of  Asilus  crabroniformis  (mag- 
nified), 94 

Four-spotted  footman  moth  (male), 

n 

,  female,  '](> 

Fresh- water  polyzoon,  217 

shrimp,  15 1 

Frog-spawn  in  situ,  iSd 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS, 


IX 


Frog,  showing   stages    of   develop- 
ment, i86,  187 
Frog-stages  of  tadpoles,  189 


Gall  insects,  %6,  Zf 

Galls  on  oak-leaf,  88 

Garden  spider,  in 

General  form  of  main  track  of  Hylo- 

nomus,  109 
Glass  tube  for  sucking  eggs,  47 
Glow-worm,  male,  106 

,  female,  106 

Goat  moth,  64 

sucker,  44 

Golden-eyed  gadfly,  91 
Gold- shot  moth,  79 
Great  green  grasshopper,  1 17 
Group  of  British  lizards,  195 
Plumatella  (enlarged),  223 


H 


Hair-tailed    millipede    (magnified), 

115 
Hairs  of  Dermestes,  116 

or  feathers  of  Polyxenes,  1 15 

of  tail  of  Polyxenes,  115 

Hair-worm,  153 

Head  of  common  snake,  196 

moth,  showing  eyes,  antennae, 

and  proboscis  (magnified),  106 

viper,  196 


Helix  aculeata,  132 

arbustorum,  130 

aspersa,  129 

cantiana,  131 

caperata,  131 

carthusiana,  132 


Helix  ericetorum,  129 

hispida,  131 

hortensis,  130 

lamellata,  132 

lapicidia,  131 

nemoralis,  129 

pigmaea,  132 

pomatia,  128 

pulchella,  131 

■ rotundata,  131 

rufescens,  132 

virgata,  130 

Herald  moth,  77 
Hipparchia  janira,  57 
Hyalotheca  dissiliens,  268 
Hydra  viridis,  211 

(magnified),  213 

attacking  water-flea,  214 

Hydrophilus   piceus   depositing   its 

eggs,  148 
Hyria  auroraria,  74 


Imago  of  Hylonomous  fraxini,  109 

(magnified),  109 

Improvised  live-box,  188 

zoophite-trough,  202 

Infusorial  parasite  of  hydra,  239 


Jaws   of   Helix   nemoralis    (magni 

fied),  135-137 
Jay,  the,  23 
Jelly  animalcules,  241 


Kerona  polyporium,  243 
Kingfisher,  25 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Lady-bird  beetle,  larva,  and  pupa, 
1 06 

Lancet  of  wasp-sting,  103 

Lantern  and  net,  74 

Lapwing,  31 

Large  emerald  moth,  77 

Larva  of  beetle  covered  with  com- 
pound hairs,  116 

caddis-worm  fly,  150 

Dytiscus  marginalis,  145 

goat  moth,  63 

Hylonomous  fraxini,  109 

Micropteryx  subpurpurella,  62 

Nepticula  durella,  62 

Leaf-cutter  bee  cutting  piece  out  of 
leaf,  90 

Lepisma  (magnified),  122 

Leptogaster  cylindricus,  95 

Liparogyra  dentreteres,  273 

Lithosia  quadra,  75 

Long-tailed  tit,  27 


M 

Maggot  of  house-fly,  98 

Maple  blight,  254 

Mastigocerca  bicristata  (magnified), 

232 
Meadow-sweet  brand,  252 
Melicerta  ringens,  224 
Micrasterias  rotata,  265 
Mined  bramble-leaf,  61 

oak-leaf,  61 

Mite  from  Gamasus  of  humble-bee, 

167 
Myopa  testacea,  92 


N 


Narrow-bordered  clear- wing,  53 


Natterjack  toad,  194 
Navicula  didyma,  279 
Nest  of  dipper,  41 

reed-bunting,  37 

spider,  112 

Nitzschia  vivax,  274 
Nuthatch,  42 
Nymph  of  gnat,  157 

o 

Oak    hook-tip     moth,     male    and 

female,  76 
Orthosira  Dressseri,  274 
Ovarium  of  fresh-water  sponge,  248 


Pale  oak  beauty  moth,  76 
Paludicella  sultana,  221 

(enlarged),  222 

,  showing  polypes.  222 

Parasite  of  Dytiscus,  146 
Philophora  plumigera,  78 
Phyllactidium  pulchellum,  271 
Pennularia  borealis,  275 

major,  278 

Pleurasigma  formosum,  279 
Podura  without  scales,  119 
Pupa  of  goat  moth,  64 


R 

Ranatra  linearis,  149 

catching  its  prey,  149 

Red-belted  clear-wing,  55 
Rose-leaf  cut  by  leaf-cutter  bee,  90 
Rotate    or    wheel-shaped    spicule, 

249 
Rotifer  vulgaris  (magnified),  229 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


XI 


Sand-lizard,  199 

Scale  of  black  Podura,  120 

bleak,  12 

bream,  14 

carp,  i6 

chub,  1 1 

dace,  13 

eel,  12 

grayling,  iS 

gudgeon,  14 

Hipparchia  janira,  57 

loach,  15 

minnow,  15 

perch,  16 

Pieris  brassicoe,  56,  57 

pike,  17 

Polyommatus  alexis,  56 

roach,  13 

speckled  Podura,  120 

Vanessa  urticae,  55 

Scarlet  tiger  moth,  75 

Section  of  button  gall  (magnified), 

89 
diatom  commencing  deduplica- 

tion,  276 

spangle  (magnified),  89 

sycamore-leaf,  255 

viper's  head,  197 


Sedge-warbler,  35 
Selidosema  plumaria,  75,  79 
Setting-board  for  Lepidoptera,  80 

out  Lepidoptera,  80-82 

Side  view  of  zoophyte-trough,  202 
Single  eggs  and  young  of  Ranatra, 

150 
Small  black  arches  moth,  74 

emerald  moth,  79 

Smooth  newt,  female,  191 

,  male,  192 

Smynthurus  niger  (magnified),  122 


Spangles  on  oak-leaf,  88 
Speckled  Podura,  121 
Spinneret  of  garden  spider,  in 

gossamer  spider,  112 

Spirogyra  in  different  stages,  270 
Spores     and     cells    of     "  witches* 

butter,"  256 
Stages  in  development  of  Epistylis, 

247 

Euglena  viridis,  244 

fresh- water  snail,  139 

Stephenoceros,  225-227 

of    metamorphosis    of     Pieris 


bra^sicK,  65,  66 

Star-spored  brand,  252 

Statoblasts   of  Plumatella  develop- 
ing, 219 

Staurastrum  dejectum,  267 

alternaus,  267 

gracile,  268 

spongium,  268 

Stauroneis  phcenicenteron,  278 

Stictodiscus  Californicus,  277 

gracile,  268 

Sting,    lancet,    and    poison-bag    of 


wasp, 


102 


-,  poison-bag,  and  poison-gland 

of  humble-bee,  100 
Slings  of  hydra,  215 
Sycamore  -  leaf      with      Melasraia 

agerina,  255 
Synchaeta  longipes  (magnified),  230 


Tadpole  of  frog,  1S8 

Teeth  of  blow-fly  (magnified),  105 

Tegenaria  atrica,  no 

Terminal  spiracle  of  Dytiscus  mar- 

ginalis,  146 
Tetranychus  lapidus,  165 
populi,  166 


Xll 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Tetranychus  salicis,  165 
telarius,  164 

tiliaris,  164 

ulmi,  165 

urticae,  167 

viburni,  166 

Theridion  riparium,  male  and 
female,  no 

"  Thousand  legs,"  108 

Thyatira  batis,  76 

Toad,  the,  190 

Tongue  and  lancet  of  common  flea, 
103 

Track  of  Hylonomus  fraxini  be- 
neath the  bark  of  a  tree,  109 

Transparent  burnet  mo-th,  55 

Tunic  of  dead  polyp  filled  with 
stato-blasts,  218 


u 


Ulothrix,  269 
Umbrella  net,  63 


Vaginicola  before  and  after  fission, 

238 
Vapourer  moth,  female,  72 

,  male,  72 

Volvox  globator,  271 

stellatum,  272 

Vorticella  nebulifera,  246 

W 

Water   beetle,     male    and    female, 
144 


flea,  female,  203 

spider,  male,  113 

5  female,  114 

Wheatears,  33 
Winged  aphis,  107 
Wingless  aphis,  107 
"Witches'  butter,"  256 


Young  hydra,  215 

of  Synchseta  longipes,  230 


THE 

PLAYTIME    NATURALIST. 


CHAPTER    I. 

OUR    NATURAL   HISTORY    SOCIETY. 

Jack  Hampson  was  a  capital  sample  of  the  best 
traditions  of  Mugby  School.  A  lad  of  fourteen, 
with  well-knit  limbs,  brave,  honest-looking-,  bluish- 
grey  eyes,  a  good  cricketer  and  swimmer,  and  not 
bad  at  a  high  jump.  He  could  no  more  do  a 
mean  thing  than  he  could  tell  a  lie  ;  and  he  could 
give  or  take  a  thrashing  if  absolutely  necessary, 
although  he  would  be  in  no  hurry  for  either. 

Mugby  School  has  kept  the  lead  in  modern 
educational  progress  which  a  former  distinguished 
master  introduced  many  years  ago.  That  master 
was  not  content  that  boys  should  learn  Latin  and 
Greek.  He  was  more  anxious  they  should  learn 
to  be  Christian  gentlemen  ;  to  fear  and  eschew  an 
untruth  as  they  would  poison  ;  to  be  brave  and  yet 
gentle  ;  tender  towards  the  weak,  not  defiant  even 


H*  v« 


iji».  ■'^ik-' 


2  THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 

to  the  strong.  The  boys  at  Mugby  School  were 
well  acquainted  with  the  lives  of  the  best  men  of 
all  ages  and  of  all  nations,  as  well  as  with  the  most 
stirring  deeds  of  valour,  self-denial,  and  manly 
bravery.  The  noblest  thoughts  of  the  wisest  men 
were  drawn  freely  upon  for  their  benefit. 

Much  of  this  "  new  education  "  was  thought  an 
innovation  at  first ;  but  never  before  were  English 
lads  turned  out  of  school  in  such  high-toned, 
manly  form,  or  so  well  able  to  hold  their  own  at 
the  universities,  or  in  the  bigger  world  outside. 

As  may  be  imagined,  the  wonders  of  science 
had  not  been  ignored  in  such  a  school.  One  can 
hardly  believe  that  modern  science  is  almost  in- 
cluded within  the  present  century.  All  before  then, 
except  astronomy,  was  more  or  less  speculation. 
Nobody  would  call  Linnaeus's  system  of  botany 
a  science,  although  it  was  very  useful  and  intro- 
ductory ;  nor  was  geology,  zoology,  nor  chemistry. 
Scientists  had  only  been  playing,  like  children, 
in  the  vestibule  of  the  great  temple.  It  may  be 
that  we  ourselves  have  not  advanced  far  within  the 
precincts — at  least,  those  who  study  these  subjects 
a  hundred  years  hence  may  think  so.  But,  at  any 
rate,  the  amount  of  knowledge  extant  concerning 
the  world  in  which  we  live,  and   its  ancient  and 


OUR  NATURAL   HISTORY  SOCIETY.  3 

modern   inhabitants,   is  vast  compared  with  what 
it  was  when  the  present  century  commenced. 

At  Mugby  School,  science  was  an  important 
and  also  a  welcome  subject.  How  welcome  it  was 
is  best  indicated  by  the  fact  that  the  boys  got 
up  a  Natural  History  Society  among  themselves. 
This  was  really  a  self-imposed  task,  done  out  of 
school-hours.  Some  of  the  principal  teachers  en- 
couraged the  lads  by  becoming  members;  not  that 
they  knew  much  of  natural  history  or  scientific 
subjects  (some  of  them,  indeed,  knew  nothing  at 
all,  and  actually  learned  a  good  deal  from  the  boys 
themselves). 

Of  course,  the  Society  was  founded  on  the  best 
models.  It  was  not  a  bit  behind  the  famous 
"  Royal  Society  of  London "  in  its  equipment. 
It  had  its  president  and  vice-president,  and  its 
committee  were  called  "  the  council."  It  also 
published,  for  the  world's  benefit,  abstracts  of  the 
short  papers  the  boys  read — the  abstracts  being 
nearly  as  long  as  the  papers.  Although  its 
members  were  not  numerous,  they  felt  they  bore 
the  weight  of  the  dignity  of  the  Society  on  their 
shoulders  ;  and,  as  they  were  too  boyish-manly  to 
be  priggish,  the  training  did  them  no  harm. 

Well,  the    Society    was    divided    into    sections. 


4  THE  PLAYTIME   NATURALIST. 

One  section  was  appointed  to  collect  the  plants  of 
the  neighbourhood — that  is,  those  obtainable  during 
the  school  half-holidays ;  another  to  collect  butter- 
flies and  moths  ;  a  third,  beetles  ;  a  fourth,  birds  ; 
a  fifth,  fossils,  etc.  They  were  to  publish  lists  of 
the  plants,  birds,  insects,  and  fossils  of  the  district 
in  the  "  Society's  Proceedings  ;  "  for,  of  course,  the 
latter  was  the  name  given  to  the  abstracted  papers. 

The  Society  had  only  been  founded  the  year 
before  Jack  Hampson  was  sent  to  Mugby  School ; 
so  it  was  in  the  first  zeal  and  freshness  of  its  youth. 
Jack  didn't  like  science — it  was  nothing  but  a 
lot  of  hard,  jaw-breaking  names,  he  said,  and  what 
was  the  good  of  them  ?  He  and  others  had  enough 
of  hard  words  in  their  daily  Latin  and  Greek  tasks. 
Jack  rather  snubbed  the  fellows  who  volunteered 
to  learn  more  hard  words  than  were  required — he 
couldn't  understand  it.  What  was  the  good  of 
calling  a  buttercup  Raniinculits,  and  a  white  stone 
quartz  ?     It  was  all  sham  and  show  ! 

Now,  Jack  was  a  born  hunter.  He  was  ardently 
fond  of  fishing,  and  not  a  bad  shot,  considering  he 
had  been  mistrusted,  instead  of  trusted,  with  a  gun. 
I  dare  say  his  skill  with  the  latter  would  have 
astonished  his  father  ;  and  I  have  no  doubt  a  good 
many  ounces  of  'bacca  found  their   way  into   the 


OUR  NATURAL   HISTORY  SOCIETY.  5 

keeper's  pocket  before  he  became  so  creditable  a 
shot. 

But  there  was  not  much  fishing  about  Mugby  ; 
or,  rather,  they  were   such  Httle  things  that  Jack 
felt  ashamed  of  pulling  them  out,  and  so  he  slipped 
them  in  again,  although  they  never  seemed  to  grow 
any  bigger.     This  was  a  wise  act  on  their  part,  if 
they  had  only  known  the  unconscious  chivalry  of 
Jack's  nature,  which  hated  taking  advantage  of  a 
weak  thing.     Then  as  to  shooting — first,  he  hadn't 
a  gun,  and  if  he  had  possessed  one,  the  rules  of  the 
school  would  have  precluded  his  using  it.     Next, 
what  was  there  to  shoot  ?     The  small  birds  in  the 
hedges?     Any   cad   could  do    that!     Sneak  after 
the  poor  beggars  behind  hedges,  and  then  bang  at 
a   robin,   a  wren,  a  yellow-hammer,  or   a  tit,  and 
perhaps   blow  it   to    pieces !     That  was   not  good 
enough.      Partridge   and    pheasant   shooting.  Jack 
thought,  are  hardly  much   better  sport,  only  you 
can  eat  them. 

Of  course,  there  was  the  excitement  of  cricket 
and  football,  hare  -  and  -  hounds,  paper-chases, 
hurdle-racing,  jumping — not  only  not  bad,  but 
altogether  good  and  brave  and  manly  sports.  But, 
somehow,  a  lad  of  superior  mental  abilities  wants 
something  else. 


6  THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 

Now,  the  scientist  is  also  a  hunter.  He  traces 
his  descent  from  Nimrod — he  is  a  hunter  before 
the  Lord.  He  roanris  through  the  stellar  universe 
for  his  prey — hunts  for  stars,  comets,  planets. 
He  is  not  daunted  because  he  did  not  live  on 
the  world  when  it  was  young,  millions  of  years 
ago ;  for  he  makes  up  for  it  by  hunting  the 
remains  of  the  animals  and  plants  that  lived 
during  countless  ages,  and  which  have  long  been 
b)uried  in  the  rocks  of  the  earth's  crust  as  fossils. 
He  hunts  for  flowering  plants  and  animals  in  all 
parts  of  the  earth  ;  braves  heat  and  cold,  hunger 
and  thirst,  wounds  and  death,  in  his  ardent  search 
for  them.  The  structures  of  rocks  do  not  escape 
his  mineralogical  hunting,  nor  the  composition  of 
any  sort  of  substance,  organic  or  inorganic,  his 
chemical  analysis.  He  hunts  down  stars  thousands 
of  millions  of  miles  away  with  his  telescope,  and 
creatures  less  than  the  fifteenth-thousand  part  of 
an  inch  long  with  his  microscope.  Was  there 
ever  such  a  great  hunter }  This  hunting  instinct 
began  scores  of  thousands  of  years  ago,  when  the 
hairy,  naked  Palaeolithic  men  hunted  extinct  hairy 
elephants  and  rhinoceroses.  It  has  been  developed 
until  it  has  assumed  the  high  intellectual  pleasure 
of  roaming  through  God's  great  creation,  and  of 


OUR  NATURAL  HISTORY  SOCIETY.  7 

confirming   the  ancient  writer's    conclusion — "  Lo, 
there  is  no  end  to  it !  " 

Of  all  these  things  Jack  Hampson  had  never  heard 
a  word.  Perhaps  he  had  occasionally  listened  to 
a  few  joking  remarks  about  Darwin  and  our  "being 
descended  from  monkeys "  at  his  father's  dinner- 
table.  But  his  father  (who  was  anything  but  a 
wealthy  man  these  hard  agricultural  times,  although 
he  farmed  his  own  estate)  had  not  much  time  for 
considering  the  discoveries  of  modern  science. 
Their  echoes  faintly  reached  him  occasionally,  but 
never  touched  him  seriously.  Not  only  were  the 
times  bad,  but  his  family  was  large,  and  it  was  not 
without  a  stretch  that  Jack  was  sent  to  Mugby 
School,  rather  more  than  twenty  miles  off.  His 
brother  (Jack's  uncle)  was  better  off,  because  he 
had  no  family ;  and  the  uncle  also  had  more 
leisure,  and,  what  is  more,  was  really  a  man  of 
a  literary  and  scientific  turn  of  mind. 

All  schoolboys  make  friends  at  school.  No- 
body has  ever  analyzed  the  process  of  friend- 
making  among  boys.  It  is  as  mysterious  as  genuine 
love-making.  Friendships — at  least,  boys'  friend- 
ships— are  also  made  "  at  first  sight."  Live  in  a 
public  school  a  few  years,  and  you  will  find  it  out. 
You  might  just  as  well  tell  a  boy  to  make  friends 


8  I'^HE   PLAYTIME  NATURALIST, 

with  a  certain  other  boy,  as  order  him  to  make 
love  a  few  years  later  with  your  female  selection  ! 
And  yet  what  issues  of  life  depend  on  those 
boyish  friendships  made  at  school !  They  are 
often  more  durable  than  marriages.  They  survive 
success,  disaster,  and  disease.  Not  unfrequently, 
they  are  prolonged  to  the  second  and  third 
generation.  If  there  is  one  thing  more  difficult 
to  explain  concerning  instincts  than  another,  it  is 
the  instinct  of  boys'  friendships. 

How  Jack  Hampson — big-limbed,  broad-backed 
Jack — came  to  take  up,  the  very  day  he  arrived  at 
Mugby,  with  little  Willie  Ransome,  I  cannot  tell. 
There  is  something  in  the  doctrine  of  contrasts  ; 
doubtless  Willie  was  as  great  a  contrast  to  Jack 
as  you  would  have  found  in  the  whole  school 
— rather  undersized,  weakly,  but  nevertheless  a 
brave  and  truthful  boy.  He  was  fond  of  books — 
a  trifle  too  fond,  for  it  would  have  done  him  good 
to  have  got  away  from  them  a  little.  The  chief 
feature  about  Willie  was  his  large,  bright,  inquiring 
eyes,  and  his  altogether  affectionate  disposition. 
He  took  to  Jack  at  once,  and  Jack  to  him.  Never 
before  was  there  a  better  illustration  of  "  friendship 
at  first  sight." 


CHAPTER    II. 

FIRST   AWAKENINGS. 

It  was  at  the  commencement  of  the  Spring  Term 
that  the  friends  came  to  Mugby  School.  Without 
knowing  it,  but  fortunately  for  them  and  for  the 
whole  school,  a  fine  enthusiastic  young  fellow  had 
been  appointed  "  science  teacher."  The  term 
sounds  vague,  but  so  do  all  terms  if  too  strictly 
analyzed.  The  boys  dubbed  him  "professor,"  and 
thereby  unconsciously  gave  him  higher  rank  than 
his  confreres^  who  were  only  "  teachers."  It  would 
have  been  impossible  for  a  young  man  to  have 
been  selected  better  fitted  for  such  a  post.  Nothing 
gets  hold  of  boys  sooner  than  enthusiasm.  Boys 
are  naturally  enthusiastic.  There  is  no  better  proof 
of  vitality  even  in  an  old  man,  than  that  he  con- 
tinues to  be  enthusiastic  about  anything  intellectual. 
Willie  Ransome's  father  was  a  village  doctor, 
and  it  was  hoped  Willie  would  some  day  help 
his    father    in    his    increasingly    larger,    but    not 


10  THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 

increasingly  profitable,  rounds.  Willie  entered  the 
science  class  the  first  term.  His  father  was  a  man  of 
scientific  tastes,  with  little  leisure  to  indulge  them. 
But  he  had  already  inoculated  his  only  son  with  a 
love  for  such  subjects.  Willie,  however,  had  never 
before  been  drawn  within  the  magic  circle  of  en- 
thusiasm, for  them,  and  his  highly  sensitive  tempera- 
ment was  fixed  by  the  professor's  descriptions  and 
demonstrations  immediately.  Before  the  term  was 
half  over,  he  was  a  member  of  the  Society,  and  doing 
his  best  to  "  collect "  for  the  Society's  museum. 

Jack  had  many  a  hearty  laugh  over  this  dis- 
position to  hoard  up  a  lot  of  old  stones  and  things, 
and  give  them  hard  names.  More  than  once  he 
was  asked  to  attend  a  Society's  meeting — for  each 
member  had  the  privilege  of  introducing  a  friend — 
but  he  always  shirked  it.  "No,"  he  said;  "they 
are  not  my  sort." 

One  wet  evening,  however,  Willie  Ransome  got 
Jack  to  go,  just  because  there  was  nothing  else  to 
do.  There  was  a  short  paper  being  read  on  "  Fish 
Scales,"  and  a  number  of  them  were  mounted  for 
microscopical  examination,  of  course  with  a  low 
power,  say  inch  and  half-inch.  Anything  relating 
to  fish  or  fishing  was  certain  to  gain  Jack's  atten- 
tion, therefore  a  better  subject  could  not  have  been 


FIRST  AWAKENINGS. 


II 


selected  to  engage  his  notice.  Besides,  Jack  had 
never  yet  even  looked  through  a  microscope  !  He 
felt  a  bit  ashamed  of  this  now  ;  but  there  were  a 
couple  of  microscopes  present,  and  Jack  determined 
to  have  a  good  look  through  them.     The  scales  of 


Fig.  I. — Scale  of  chub. 

different  sorts  of  British  fishes  were  on  view.  Of 
course,  fish-scales  are  common  enough  ;  but  who 
would  think  that  each  kind  has  its  own  pattern  of 
scale,  and  that  you  could  tell  a  species  of  fish  by 
its  scales  t 

The  paper  showed  that  the  scales  of  fishes  were 


12 


THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 


composed    of  the   same    material,    chitine,   as    the 
feathers  of  birds,  or  the  hair  and  nails  of  animals — 


Fig.  2. — Scale  of  bleak. 

a  kind  of  substance  only  found  in  the  animal  king- 
dom, and  never  in  the  vegetable  ;  that  these  scales 


Fig.  3. — Scale  of  eel. 

are  developed   in   little  pockets  in  the  fish's  skin, 
which    you    can    plainly  see   for  yourself  when   a 


FIRST  AWAKENINGS. 


herring    is    scaled.      They  are    arranged    all 


13 


over 


Fig.  4. — Scale  of  roach. 


Fig.  5. — Scale  of  dace, 
the  fish's  body  like  the  tiles  covering  a  roof,  partly 


H 


THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 


Fig.  6, — ^Scale  of  gudgeon. 


Fig.  7. — Scale  of  bream. 


FIRST  AWAKENINGS. 


15 


overlapping  each  other,  as  is  seen  by  one  part  of 
the  scale  being  often  different  from  the  other. 


Fig.  8. — Scale  of  loach. 


^ig-  9- — Scale  of  minnow. 


'    Jack  looked   through   the   microscope,   and  was 
delighted.     He  was  always  a  reverent-minded  boy, 


i6 


THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 


Fig.  lo. — Scale  of  perch. 


Fig.  II. — Scale  of  common  carp. 


FIRST  AWAKENINGS. 


i; 


and  the  sight  broke  on  his  mind  like  a  new  revela- 
tion. How  exquisitely  chaste  and  beautiful  were 
the  markings,  lines,  dots,  and  other  peculiarities  ! 
Then  the  scales  which  run  along  the  middle  line 


Fig.  12. — Scale  of  pike. 

of  the  fish  were  shown  him,  and  the  ducts  per- 
forating them,  out  of  which  the  mucus  flows  to 
anoint  the  fish's  body,  and  thus  reduce  the  friction 


i8 


THE   PLAYTIME   NATURALIST. 


of  its  rapid  movement  through  the  water.  The  lad 
was  half  bewildered  at  the  possibility  of  the  new 
knowledge.  "  Could  anybody  get  to  know  about 
these  things  ? "  he  asked  Willie,  who  told  him  of 
course  he  could,  if  he  would  only  take  a  little 
trouble. 

"  But,"  said  his  young  friend,   "  I  would  advise 


Fig.  13. — Scale  of  grayling. 


you  to  get  a  pocket-magnifier  first,  and  begin  to 
examine  with  that.  Some  fellows  begin  right  off 
with  a  powerful  microscope  they  get  their  governors 
to  buy  them,  and  they  work  it  like  mad  for  a 
month  or  two,  and  then  get  tired  of  it.  Fact  is. 
they  never  learned  the  art  of  observing." 


FIRST  AWAKENINGS.  1 9 

"  What  do  you  mean  by  that  ?  "  said  Jack. 

"Why,  getting  into  the  habit  of  looking  about 
you,  keeping  your  eyes  open,  and  quickly  spot- 
ting anything  unusual.  Fancy  a  fellow  begin- 
ning to  use  magnifying  glasses  of  thousands  of 
times  before  he  has  begun  to  use  his  own  eyes ! 
Use  your  own  eyes  first,  then  get  a  little  extra  help 
in  the  shape  of  a  shilling  pocket-lens,  and  by-and- 
by  you  will  be  able  to  use  a  real  microscope,  and 
enjoy  using  it  too." 

This  was  rather  a  long  lecture  for  Willie  to 
give,  or  for  Jack  to  listen  to.  He  wouldn't  have 
listened  if  it  had  not  been  for  what  he  had  just 
seen.  He  said  nothing,  but  he  made  up  his  mind 
he  would  get  one  of  these  useful  shilling  magnifiers. 
Willie  usually  had  a  country  walk  during  the  school 
half-holiday,  and  Jack  had  often  been  invited  to 
accompany  him  ;  but  he  didn't  care  to  go  "hum- 
bugging after  grubs  and  weeds,"  he  said.  Now, 
however,  he  invited  nimselt,  and  somewhat  surprised 
his  friend  by  stating  he  wanted  to  go  with  him. 


20  THE   PLAYTIME  NATURALIST 


CHAPTER    III. 

AMONG   THE   BIRDS. 

It  was  a  bright  afternoon  in  early  summer.  The 
hedsres  and  woods  were  full  of  bird-music.  You 
couldn't  see  many  birds,  for  the  luxuriant  foliage 
screened  them,  but  there  they  were  ;  a  hundred  pairs 
of  bright  birds'  eyes  watched  the  young  friends  as 
they  sauntered  along  the  shadow-flecked  roads. 
Overhead  the  lark  was  raining  down  its  melody. 
That  "wandering  voice,"  the  cuckoo — the  Bohemian 
among  British  birds — was  heard,  in  the  first  fresh- 
ness of  its  call-note  ;  for,  as  the  proverb  goes  in 
Suffolk— 

"  In  May  he  sing  all  day  , 
In  June  he  change  his  tune.  '* 

Whether  it  be  true  or  not  that  the  female  cuckoo  has 
the  power  of  changing  the  colour-tone  of  her  eggs, 
and  adapting  them,  as  a  sort  of  mimicry,  to  the  colour 
of  the  eggs  in  the  nest  into  which  she  surreptitiously 
slips  her  own,  has  been  a  disputed  point.  But 
one  thing  is  certain — the  cuckoo  has  a  marvellous 


AMONG   THE  BIRDS. 


21 


power  of  modifying  the  colour  and  even  markings 
of  her  eggs.  You  can  hardly  find  two  eggs  of  the 
cuckoo  marked  and  tinted  exactly  alike.  This 
restless  bird  appears  to  have  drifted  away  from  its 


Fig.  14. — The  cuckoo  {Cnciilns  canorus). 


oological  moorings.  The  cuckoo  is  the  only  British 
species.  North  America  appears  to  be  its  head- 
quarters.   There  and  elsewhere  cuckoos  build  nests 


22  THE   PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 

like  Other  birds,  and  have  regularly  marked  eggs. 
In  this  country,  the  female  cuckoo  is  the  victim  of 
polyandry — she  has  too  many  husbands  1  They 
don't  give  her  time  to  build  a  nest  and  attend  to 
her  domestic  duties,  like  other  birds.  So  she  has 
become  a  by-word  and  a  scorn  among  the  chaste 
avian  matrons  who  may  be  seen  following  her  any 
May  morning,  as  if  she  bore  on  her  breast  the 
"  scarlet  letter." 

In  that  hazel  copse  on  the  right,  where  the 
nightingale  is  trying  its  early  notes,  you  hear  the 
harsh  grating  cry  of  the  jay.  It  is  getting  quite 
a  local  bird  now,  which  is  the  first  step  tow^ards  its 
becoming  a  rare  one.  Our  game  laws  have  had 
an  important  influence  on  oui  native  zoology,  and 
even  botany.  Every  creature  which  an  ignorant 
gamekeeper  regards  as  injurious  to  the  birds  and 
eggs  under  his  charge,  is  condemned  to  death. 
Consequently  there  are  few  mammals  or  birds 
which  he  does  not  regard  suspiciously.  The  game- 
keeper's idea  of  the  proper  fauna  to  inhabit  the 
earth  is — first,  pheasants,  then  partridges,  next, 
hares,  and  (a  long  way  behind)  rabbits !  Why 
Providence  created  anything  else  is  a  mystery  to 
him,  and  tries  his  bump  of  reverence  sorely. 

The   sweetly  pretty  blue  which   glances   in  the 


AMONG   THE  BIRDS'. 


23 


wing-feathers  of  the  jay  has  been  against  its  pros- 
perity. Of  course,  they  were  developed  to  please — 
jays.  But  in  these  later  times  they  have  pleased 
human  beings  of  the  female  gender,  and  that  is  a 


^^^^"^^^^ 


-^^g-  ^5* — '^^  i^y  {Garrulus glandarkis), 

bad  thing  for  pretty  birds.  Women,  and  especially 
young  women,  all  over  the  world,  labour  under 
the  mistaken  idea  that  they  are  not  good-looking 
enough — that  a  few  pretty  feathers  torn  from  the 


24  THE  PLAYTIME   NATURALIST. 

wings  of  pretty  birds,  shot  and  maimed  and  robbed 
of  their  brief  Hves  for  the  purpose,  would  render 
them  yet  more  attractive !  The  mistake  is  un- 
fortunate for  the  birds. 

We  have  not  many  birds  whose  colours  attract 
attention  in  our  sober  British  Isles.  True,  the 
kingfisher  is  still  common  among  us,  thank  Heaven! 
You  may  yet  see  it  flash  past  like  a  sapphire, 
even  in  winter.  The  idiots  who  can  afford  to  pay 
the  gun-tax,  and  who  have  just  got  sense  enough 
to  kill  something  or  hurt  something  for  life, 
have  not  yet  been  able  to  shoot  down  the  king- 
fisher. Male  and  female  are  almost  alike  in  their 
rich  cerulean,  prismatic  plumage,  thanks  to  the 
fact  that  the  female  nests  in  a  Jiole,  which  thus 
conceals  her  lovely  colours  whilst  she  is  sitting. 
Mr.  A.  R.  Wallace  has  shown  that  in  most  cases 
where  the  female  is  as  brilliantly  coloured  as  the 
male,  the  nest  is  concealed.  A  brilliantly  coloured 
bird,  sitting  for  two  or  three  weeks,  would  be  a 
conspicuous  mark  to  her  enemies  if  her  nest  were 
an  open  one.  Hence  the  reason  why  the  female 
pheasants  are  so  dull-coloured,  whilst  the  males 
are  so  brilliant. 

A  funny  nest  is  that  of  the  kingfisher,  when 
you  find  it — rather  badly  built  of  interlacing  fish- 


m 


AMONG   THE  BIRDS. 


25 


bones  instead  of  grass  and  hay,  or  moss  ;  but  not 
an  inartistic  structure  nevertheless.  It  seems  a 
strange  way  of  utilizing  your  waste  food — to  con- 
struct your  lodgings  out  of  it ! 


'^^^^^W0i^' 


Fig.  16. — The  kingfisher  {Alcedo  ispida). 

The  two  lads  were  more  silent  than  lads  usually 
are  on  an  exuberant  morning  like  this.     The  fact 


26  THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 

was,  both  were  genuine  naturalists  without  know- 
ing it.  The  true  naturahst  is  a  true  poet.  Into 
his  mind  the  influences  of  natural  scenery,  of 
natural  history,  unconsciously  sink  down.  There 
is  an  unmentionable  bliss  in  the  unrecognized 
sympathy  which  goeth  forth  towards  all  things 
into  which  He  hath  breathed  the  breath  of  life. 
The  scents  of  the  opening  buds — too  fragrantly 
evanescent  even  for  the  cleverest  parfumeiir  to  fix 
— the  hallelujah  chorus  of  summer  voices,  birds 
chiefly,  but  not  only,  which  enter  the  "  Emanuel's 
gate "  of  the  human  ear  ;  the  sad,  soft  sighing  of 
summer  winds  ;  the  unobtruding  kaleidoscope  of 
floral  form  and  colour,  scattered  so  freely  and 
bountifully  ; — cannot  these  get  hold  of  the  soul 
of  a  man  ?  One  feels  constrained  to  adopt  the 
language  of  the  principal  talker  among  the  favourite 
disciples — "  Lord,  let  us  build  three  tabernacles," 
etc.     The  disciple  was  in  no  hurry  to  depart. 

Just  after,  the  boys — who  had  enjoyed  each 
other's  speechless  company,  until  they  began  that 
pastime  common  to  boys  of  all  characters  all  over 
the  world,  nest-finding — happened  to  stumble 
across  perhaps  the  most  remarkable  nest  of  all  our 
British  birds — that  of  the  "  pudding-poke,"  or  long- 
tailed  tit  {Parus  longicaudatus).     In  the  old  haw- 


AMONG   THE  BIRDS. 


27 


thorn  hedge,  covered  with  grey  and  yellow  lichens, 
the  long  purse-like  nest  was  so  externally  adorned 
with  similar  lichens  that  you  could  with  difficulty 
tell  the  nest  from  the  lichen-clad  fork  in  which  it 


Fig.  17. — The  long-tailed  tit  [Parus  longicaudatus). 

was  fixed.  Never  was  a  cleverer  bit  of  mimicry, 
or  pretending.  Lads  whose  play  and  pastimes 
incline  them  to  be  Indian  chiefs,  brigands,  pirates, 
robbers,    etc.,   can    appreciate  this  pretending,    or 


28  THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 

mimicry,  on  the  part  of  birds  and  insects  perhaps 
better  than  their  elders.  They  do  it  every  day 
for  sport ;  the  poor  birds  and  insects  do  it  every 
day  in  earnest,  for  their  Hves  and  specific  existence 
depend  upon  it. 

But  there  is  a  comical  side  even  to  the  most 
serious  engagement  in  life,  if  you  care  to  seek  for  it 
Here  is  the  long-tailed  tit,  for  instance — what  in 
the  world  is  the  good  of  that  long  tail  to  him  ? 
He  can't  use  it ;  it  isn't  an  ornament ;  and  yet  he  is 
as  proud  of  it  as  if  it  were  a  peacock's.  He  goes  to 
the  trouble  to  laboriously  construct  a  long  "pudding- 
poke  "  nest,  simply  because  he  wants  room  for  that 
useless  long  tail !  Was  there  ever  anything  so 
absurd  ?  Some  persons  imagine  that  in  this  world 
it  is  only  given  to  men  and  women  to  make  fools  of 
themselves.     The  long-tailed  tit  also  gets  a  chance. 

But  of  all  the  tits,  give  me  the  common  blue 
tit.  That  bird  is  a  source  of  comfort  and  delight 
to  me  all  the  winter  through.  He  comes  to  the 
bone  I  hang  from  the  bough  of  the  pear-tree  in 
front,  of  my  dining-room  ;  and  it  is  capital  fun  to 
see  him  climb  down  the  string,  with  all  the  sparrows 
sitting  around  on  the  nearest  boughs,  wishing  they 
could  do  the  same,  and  glad  to  pick  up  the  crumbs 
which  fall  from  this  lucky  bird's  table. 


AMONG   THE  BIRDS,  29 

Willie  knew  all  these  common  birds.  Their 
songs  were  as  familiar  to  him  as  his  own  language, 
from  the  melancholy  alarm-cry  of  the  nightingale 
to  that  of  the  blackbird. 

The  metallic  notes  of  the  chaffinch  are  heard 
from  every  tree.  That  bird  was  now  in  his  gayest 
and  neatest  plumage,  and  the  male  was  not  at  all 
unwilling  to  show  off  his  recently  acquired  plumage. 
The  male  yellow-hammer,  also,  was  nearly  the 
same  colour  as  a  canary.  Before  long  you  hear 
this  bird  all  along  the  roads  and  lanes,  uttering 
that  remarkable  plaintive  cry  which  has  obtained 
for  it  in  Suffolk  (the  intonation  of  whose  dialect  it 
somewhat  resembles), "  A-little-bit-o'-bread-and-;2<?- 
cheese ! "  Birds'  names  are  frequently  onoma- 
topceic,  or  founded  on  the  cries  they  utter  and  the 
sounds  they  make.  Thus  the  chaffinch  is  commonly 
known  by  the  name  of  *'  spink,"  because  of  the  flat, 
metallic  note  somewhat  resembling  this  sound. 

There  is  a  bird-language,  as  true  ornithologists 
are  aware — a  language  expressive  of  joy,  as  in  the 
song  of  the  ascending  lark,  and  that  of  the  thrush 
sitting  on  topmost  boughs  in  the  early  summer- 
time ;  of  alarm  ;  even  of  humbug  and  deceit,  as 
when  the  lapwing  tries  to  decoy  you  away  from  her 
nest  by  sham  cries  of  pain.     This  noblo  bird  was 


30  THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST, 

now  in  view,  for  the  boys  had  come  to  a  break  in 
the  wooded  lanes,  where  a  patch  of  yellow  gorse- 
clad  common  relieved  the  pleasant  monotony  of 
greenness. 

It  was  a  glorious  sight,  that  wilderness  of  gor- 
geous yellow.  The  tradition  ought  to  be  true,  even 
if  it  is  not,  that  when  Linnaeus  first  saw  the  gorse  in 
full  flower,  he  thanked  God  for  allowing  him  to  see 
a  sight  so  beautiful.  I  have  never  beheld,  even  in 
the  tropics,  anything  equal  to  it,  much  less  to  excel 
it.  The  only  approach  to  it  in  floral  beauty  is  the 
wild  Australian  bush,  where  the  pink  epacris  take 
the  place  assumed  by  our  English  gorse. 

The  gorse  is  also  known  as  "  whin  "  and  "  furze," 
according  to  the  locality.  Those  breezy  birds,  the 
whin-chats,  were  abroad,  flitting  from  gorse-bush  to 
gorse-bush,  resting  for  a  few  moments  on  the  top- 
most branches  ;  then,  flicking  their  tails  and  uttering 
their  short,  sharp  notes,  they  went  away  a  few 
yards  farther.  Like  the  beautiful  lapwings,  they 
do  this  to  lure  one  from  their  nests. 

The  lapwings  were  wheeling  and  crying  all  over 
the  place.  Half  a  dozen  couples  made  more  row 
now  than  a  flock  of  hundreds  of  these  birds 
would  have  done  in  winter.  Their  **  pee-weet " 
cries  have  obtained  for  them  this  additional  name. 


AMONG   THE   BIRDS.  3 1 

But  all  their  fuss  was  to  lure  the  lads  away,  and  the 


Fig.  18. — The  lapwing  {Vanellus  cri status). 

birds  fussed  and  cried  all  the  more  when  they  found 


32  THE  PLAYTIME   NATURALIST. 

their  artifices  succeeding.  Then,  when  the  danger- 
ous trespassers  had  wandered  a  sufficiently  safe 
distance,  away  flew  back  the  deceitful  birds  to  their 
nests  and  young,  to  practise  the  same  device  again 
when  the  next  trespasser  arrived. 

All  this  and  more  Willie  pointed  out  to  his 
friend,  who,  indeed,  was  not  entirely  ignorant  of 
birds  and  their  ways.  Few  boys  who  live  in  the 
country  are. 

Coming  to  a  kind  of  gravel  and  sand  pit,  they  were 
about  to  go  in,  when  they  saw  a  couple  of  wheat- 
ears  frolicking  about — birds  with  a  remarkable 
mixture  of  daring  and  timidity  in  their  cha- 
racters. Of  course,  the  face  of  the  sand-cliff  was 
drilled  with  scores  of  holes  made  by  the  sand- 
martin  {Hiriindo  ripai'ia),  which  well  deserves  its 
specific  zoological  name,  for  these  communities  are 
really  bird-cities  in  the  sand-bank. 

Beyond  the  common,  the  land  sank  into  a  marsh. 
It  was  a  capital  hunting-ground.  That  queer 
insectivorous  plant,  the  sun-dew,  grew  abundantly 
— indeed,  the  ground  was  of  a  brick-red  tint  in 
places  with  its  pretty  rosette-shaped  groups  of 
leaves — every  leaf  an  ingenious  little  fly-trap.  The 
place  was  pink  with  the  lovely  flowers  of  a  plant 
which    deserves    a    better  name   than    louse-wort 


AMONG   THE  BIRDS. 


33 


{^Pedicidaris).    A  stream  ran  through  the  middle  of 
the  Httle  marsh,  and  rapidly  made  its  way  through 


Fig  19. — Wheatears  {Saxicola  ananilie). 


34 


THE   PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 


a  miniature  gully  it  had  cut  for  itself  a  quarter 
of  a  mile  further  away.  Groups  of  tall  trees  lined 
the  path  of  the  stream,  as  it  slowly  sped  through 
the  marshy  places  ;  and  here,  at  night,  you  could 


Fig.  20. — The  sedge- warbler  [Acrocephalus  phragmitis). 


hear  the  sedge-warbler  {An-ocephahis  pJwaginitis) 
feebly  imitating  the  nightingale.  Indeed,  across 
the  sea  it  is  known  as  the  Irish  nightingale.     It 


AMONG   THE  BIRDS. 


35 


is  one  of  the  cleverest  of  our  British  mocking-birds, 
and  can  imitate  the  songs  of  the  thrush,  lark,  and 
even  its  fellow-companion  in  the  same  habitat,  the 
reed-sparrow,  or  reed-bunting  {Emberiza  schoeni- 
culus).     The  boys  soon  set  to  work  to  hunt  for  the 


Fig.  21. — Nest  of  sedge-warbler. 

nests  of  these  reed-birds.  After  a  good  deal  of 
sloppy  tumbling  about,  they  found  that  of  the  sedge- 
warbler — an  exquisitely  constructed  and  ingeniously 
concealed  bit  of  bird-architecture.  It  was  not  long 
before  they  saw  that  of  the  reed-bunting,  a  still 


36 


THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST 


more  remarkable  construction.  It  is  now  too  much 
sought  after  by  those  aesthetic  people  who  have 
suddenly  found  out  that  peacock's  feathers  and  sun- 
flowers are  beautiful  objects,  and  who  owe  a  debt 
of  gratitude  to  Japanese  artists  for  drawing  their 


V:?n 


Fig.  22. — Black-headed  bunting  {Einberiza  fjielanocephala). 


attention  to  the  graceful  shapes  of  reeds  and  grasses. 
In  the  drawing-rooms  of  such  people  you  will  see 
great  pots  of  bull-rushes,  and  perhaps  a  cluster  of 


AMONG   THE  BIRDS, 


37 


water-reeds  {A7'2mdo  phraguiites),  with  a  reed-bunt- 
ing's nest  in  the  middle. 

Notice  how  cleverly — as  cleverly  as  the  Indian 
weaver-bird — the  reed-bunting  has  twined  the  grass 


Fig.  23. — Nest  of  reed -bunting. 


structure  of  its  nest  in  and  out  of  the  tripod  of 
three  strong  reed  haulms.  The  wind  may  rock  it 
to  and  fro,  but  the  nest  is  safe  enough.  No  land 
animals,  weasels,  cats,  etc.,  can  get  to  it.     Then,  as 


38  THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 

the  boys  found  out,  the  nests  were  always  made 
in  the  reeds  lining  the  edge  of  the  running  water. 
It  seemed  impossible  to  get  to  them  except  by 
boat,  and  there  was  no  boat  hereabouts  ;  even  if 
there  had  been,  I  doubt  whether  it  would  have 
been  used  on  that  small  swampy  stream. 

But  the  reed-bunting's  nest  had  to  be  got ;  not 
for  any  aesthetic  purpose,  but  solely  because  it 
seemed  impossible  to  get  it.  That  surely  is  reason 
enough  for  a  British  youth !  The  bunting's  nest 
could  be  approached  within  half  a  dozen  yards, 
but  that  half-dozen  was  a  Serbonian  Bog.  The 
tall  reeds  whistled  like  pan-pipes  (the  Greek  god 
made  his  musical  instrument  out  of  them) ;  the 
sword-like  blades  of  the  yellow  iris  ("  Fleur-de-luce  " 
or  Louis — the  charge,  or  golden  lilies,  on  the  white 
flag  of  royalist  France)  were  topped  by  the  flower- 
spikes.  A  few  flowering-rushes  {Butomiis  uin- 
bellatus)  were  sprinkled  among  them.  Margining 
the  stream  were  arrow-heads  (Sagittaria),  water- 
plantains  (Alisma),  and  other  aquatic  plants. 

But  these  things  were  regarded  as  naught.  It 
was  the  reed-bunting's  nest  that  was  required.  Of 
course,  it  could  have  been  got  at  with  a  long  plank, 
but  boys  don't  carry  long  planks  about  with  them 
when  they  go  bird's-nesting.      There  was  a  short 


AMONG   THE  BIRDS.  39 

and  decisive  council  of  war  held  ;  the  result  was  a 
stripping  of  habiliments.  Jack  was  soon  in  his 
own  skin,  plunging  cautiously  through  the  swamp; 
then,  as  the  boggy  mass  became  more  watery,  lying 
down  on  it,  wriggling  through  it  like  an  eel,  until 
at  length  the  reed-bunting's  nest  was  reached.  The 
proud  victor  over  a  difficulty  returned  with  his 
prize,  if  not  a  sadder,  a  differently  coloured  boy, 
for  the  black  mud  had  made  him  as  piebald  as  a 
magpie. 

That,  however,  was  only  part  of  the  fun.  A  few 
hundred  yards  lower  down,  the  swamp  ended,  and 
the  stream  flowed  rapidly  towards  its  little  gorge. 
The  piebald  young  Briton  hastened  thither,  and 
plunged  into  as  deep  a  hole  as  he  could  find,  to 
wash  off  the  stains  of  his  recent  campaign.  In 
doing  so  he  startled  a  couple  of  those  remarkable 
birds,  the  water-ousels, or  dippers  i^Cinclus  aquaticiis), 
a  bird  which  has  been  much  hunted  down  in  salmon 
and  trout  streams,  on  the  alleged  reason  that  it 
destroyed  their  ova.  Nothing  of  the  kind.  It 
simply  haunts  streams  for  the  sake  of  caddis- 
worms  and  other  insects,  shell-fish,  etc.  Perhaps 
it  does  vary  this  monotonous  diet  by  a  little  fish, 
very  little  fish — small  fry,  in  short. 

There   was    a    suspiciousness   about    the   water- 


40 


THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 


ousels,  when  they  were  startled,  which  led  Willie  to 


Fig   24. — The  dipper  {Cinclns  aqiiaticus). 

believe  they  had  a  nest  thereabout     So,  as  soon 


AMONG    THE  BIRDS. 


41 


as  Jack  had  got  rid  of  the  Ethiopian  part  of  his 
skin,  they  set  about  to  look  for  it.  At  last  it  was 
found,  and  a  pretty,  comfortable  little  dwelling  it 
was.  The  lads  left  it,  for  it  was  a  pity  to  take  such 
a  nice  little  bird's  house.  Besides,  there  was  no 
adventure  connected  with  taking  it,  which  goes  for 
a  good  deal  in  a  boy's  moral  code. 


Fig.  25. — Nest  of  water-ousel. 

The  afternoon  had  well  set  in  now,  and  the 
young  friends  were  sharp-set  as  to  their  appetites. 
It  would  be  a  grand  thing  if  there  could  be  invented 
a  sort  of  proventriciihun,  or  paunch,  for  young  lads 
who  wander   miles  to    study  natural   history  and 


42 


THE  PLAYTIME   NATURALIST. 


procure  specimens  ;  then,  if  they  felt  hungry,  they 
could  refresh  themselves. 

Nevertheless,  as  they  came  to  the  wooded  lanes 
and  roads  again,  they  were  not  too  hungry  to  fail 


Fig.  26. — The  nuthatch  {Sitta  Europcca). 

in  catching  the  nuthatch  at  work — small,  insignifi- 
cant-looking bird  though  it  is.  The  blackcap 
{Qirruca  atricapilla)  was  warbling  as  I  verily  be- 
lieve only  blackcaps  can,     "Warbling"  is  the  best 


AMONG   THE   BIRDS. 


43 


word  wherewith  to- designate  its  song.  A  cockney 
authority  on  music  and  morals  has  put  it  on  record 
that  there  is  no  real  music  in  the  songs  of  birds  ! 
It  is  a  pity  they  cannot  sue  him  for  libel.  Nobody 
but  a  cockney  would  have  uttered  it.  Shakespeare 
did  not  think  so,  nor  did   Shelley  or  Wordsworth, 


Fig.  27. — Blackcap  warbler  {Sylvia  atricapilla). 

and  the  world  values  their  opinions  almost  as  much 
as  those  of  Mr.  Haweis. 

On  their  way  back  to  school — tired,  hungry, 
silent — they  heard,  through  the  deepening  gloaming, 
the  •'  churring  "  cry  of  the  goat-sucker  {Capvinuilgiis 
Europceiis),  sometimes  as  close  to  them  as  the  bats  ; 


44 


THE   PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 


at  others,  far  away  in  pursuit  of  the  larger  moths 
or  beetles.    TY^-dX  jarring  note  has  procured  for  this 


Fig.  28. — The  goat-sucker  {Capi'imulgus  Europaa). 

bird  its  other  name  of  "night-jar;"  whilst  its  love 
for    ferny,    bracken-clad    slopes    (especially   where 


AMONG   THE   BIRDS.  45 

pine  woods  break  their  monotony  with  covers)  has 
given  it  the  other  British  name  it  bears,  especially 
in  the  midland  counties,  of  "  fern-owl," 

Is  there  anything  more  delightful  than  the  fatigue 
of  a  summer  afternoon's  long  ramble  after  objects 
one  loves  ?  You  are  not  tired  of  them,  but  with 
them.  It  is  a  delicious  fatigue.  Subsequent  years 
of  trouble  cannot  obliterate  the  charmed  impres- 
sions. They  are  the  sunniest  spots  in  one's  memory. 
Their  recollections  come,  like  angels'  visits,  to  un- 
consciously relieve  us  in  after-years  of  many  a  sad 
trouble  and  trial.  They  should  be  laid  up  in  store 
when  you  are  young,  so  that  they  can  be  drawn 
upon  when  you  are  old.  Then  the  sunshine  of 
youth  is  stored  to  gild  the  troubled  days  of 
matured  manhood  and  the  darker  shadows  of  old 
age. 

Next  day,  the  few  eggs  the  boys  had  collected 
(and  in  collecting  them  they  had  taken  consci- 
entious care  not  to  interfere  with  the  clutches 
unless  they  were  full  or  nearly  so,  in  order  not  to 
disturb  or  interfere  with  the  bird's  laying)  were  all 
laid  out  on  Willie's  little  table.  He  had  the  handy 
little  volume  entitled  "  Collecting  and  Preserving 
Natural  History  Specimens,"  and  had  turned  to 
Mr.  Southwell's  capital  chapter  on  collecting  and 


y 


46  THE  PLAYTIME   NATURALIST. 

arranging  bird's  eggs.  The  young  friends  read  it 
through  together.  The  delight  of  hunting  was 
intensified  by  the  joy  of  possessing.  Whatever  an 
ardent  young  collector  may  be  collecting  for  the 
time  being  is  very  precious.  To  be  the  actual 
owner  of  an  object  he  and  others  have  been  looking 
for,  is  to  be  wealthy. 

There  is  also  a  peculiar  pleasure  in  being  taught 
what  you  want  to  learn.  How  grateful  a  man 
feels  then  ! 

The  lads  learned  a  great  deal  from  the  above- 
mentioned  chapter — how  to  make  and  use  egg- 
drills  for  boring  the  sides  of  eggs  intended  for  the 
cabinet  ;  how  to  discharge  the  contents  of  the 
eggs  by  means  of  the  blowpipe  ;  and  how  it  was 
best  to  use  a  glass  bulb-tube  for  sucking  out  the 
contents  of  the  more  delicate  eggs.  Furthermore, 
they  were  instructed  how  to  arrange  the  eggs  in 
the  cabinet,  and  what  sort  of  drawers  to  make  or 
get  made.  At  their  school  there  was  a  carpenter's 
shop,  and  every  boy  was  a  bit  of  a  carpenter — as 
indeed  every  boy  should  be,  for  there  is  no  handi- 
craft knowledge  more  useful.  So  you  had  only 
to  tell  lads  like  our  young  friends  what  to  make, 
and  they  would  certainly  manage  to  make  it. 

Mr.   Southwell    recommends   the   plan    adopted 


AMONG   THE  BIRDS. 


47 


by  Mr.  Salvin,  the  distinguished  ornithologist,  for 


Fig.  29. — Egg-drills,         Fig.  30.  — Blowpipe     Fig.  31. — Glass  tube 

and  wire.  for  sucking  eggs. 


arranging  birds    eggs.     Each  drawer  in   the   ^g^- 


48 


THE  PLAYTIME   NATURALIST. 


cabinet  is  divided  longitudinally  by  thin  slips  of 
wood  into  three  or  more  parts,  about  four  to  six 
inches  across,  as  may  be  convenient.  A  number 
of  sliding  stages  are  then  constructed  of  cardboard^ 
by  cutting  the  card  half  through  at  exactly  the 
vi^idth  of  the  partition,  and  bending  the  sides  down 


Fig.  32. — Cabinet  drawer  for  eggs. 

to  raise  the  stage  to  the  required  height.  A 
number  of  oval  holes  are  then  cut  by  hand,  and 
a  thin  layer  of  cotton  wool  gummed  on  the  upper 
surface  of  the  stage,  the  holes  being  suitable  to 
the  sizes  of  the  eggs  they  are  intended  to  receive. 


AMONG   THE  BIRDS.  49 

Between  these  stages  sliding  partitions  are  placed, 
made  of  just  sufficient  height  that  the  horizontal 
part  may  fit  closely  on  the  wool.  These  partitions 
are  made  of  thin  wood  for  the  upright  part,  along 
which  a  horizontal  strip  of  cardboard  is  fastened 
with  glue  :  on  the  latter  is  placed  a  label  bearing 
the  name  of  the  ^gg  displayed  on  the  stage.  By 
this  plan  the  eggs  are  well  shown,  and  not  likely 
to  fall  out  of  their  places.  Each  drawer  is  then 
covered  with  a  sheet  of  glass,  to  exclude  the  dust. 


50  THE   PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

NIMRODS   AMONG   THE   LEPIDOPTERA. 

Those  happy  days  when  the  summer  is  young, 
and  we  are  as  young  as  the  summer!  When  the 
summer-tide  and  one's  life-tide  are  both  flowing  ! 
Happier  days  still,  when  the  love  of  Nature  has 
got  hold  of  a  youth  who,  although 

*'  Daily  further  from  the  East  must  travel, 
Still  is  Nature's  priest,  and  by  the  vision  splendid 
Is  on  his  way  attended  !  " 

The  months  of  May  and  June  were  a  charmed 
season  to  our  enthusiastic  lads.  Every  hour 
they  could  get  away  they  passed  in  the  woods, 
lanes,  and  fields,  or  else  wandered  over  commons 
and  through  miry  swamps  and  marshes.  They 
made  collections  of  all  the  birds'  eggs  they  could, 
and  studied  the  nests  of  the  commoner  kinds — 
how  they  were  built,  and  the  variations  in  their 
structure.  The  orders  of  Greek  architecture  do 
not  vary  more  than  the  architectural  differences  in 
birds'  nests. 


NIMRODS  AMONG   THE   LEPIDOPTERA.         5  I 

Then  the  lush  foliage  and  greenery  of  May  and 
June  made  bird's-nest  hunting  all  the  more  delight- 
ful, because  it  was  more  difficult  than  when  there 
was  less  greenery  about,  and  when  any  idiot  could 
find  a  nest.  One  of  their  chief  pastimes  was  that 
of  watching  birds  to  their  nests.  It  requires  a 
good  deal  of  patience  and  keen  observation,  but 
it  rewards  us  in  the  absolute  knowledge  one  gains 
by  getting  a  good  practical  knowledge  of  the 
characters  of  birds.  It  is  a  double  watching — we 
watch  the  birds,  and  they  watch  us.  The  urgent 
affairs  of  their  nests  tempt  them  to  all  sorts  of 
tricks  and  artifices  to  deceive  us.  But  at  last  the 
bird  takes  good  heart,  and  trusts  that  all  will  be 
right.  Then  it  drops  into  its  nest,  or  enters  its 
hole  ;  and  the  young  watcher  conquers  by  finding 
the  nest,  but  generously  forbears  to  meddle  with 
it,  the  delight  of  having  overcome  the  cunning  of 
the  bird  and  of  finding  the  nest  being  victory 
enough — at  least,  to  any  boy  but  a  cad. 

Then  the  butterflies  had  come  out.  Every  boy 
is  a  born  butterfly-hunter.  He  cannot  resist  at- 
tempting to  capture  one  of  these  fluttering,  ani- 
mated bits  of  colour.  It  is  like  owning  a  morsel 
of  summer.  .  So  away  go  all  sorts  of  lads  aftei 
them,  with  caps  and   jackets    generally.     Jackets 


52  THE  PLAYTIME   NATURALIST 

are  magnificent  hunting-tools  with  lads.  Along 
comes  a  butterfly,  leisurely  stopping  at  one  flower 
after  another,  and  off  goes  the  boy's  jacket.  Away 
he  runs  after  the  prey.  The  sluggish  butterfly 
enjoys  being  hunted  with  a  boy's  jacket  quite  as 
much  as  real  red-coated  huntsmen  say  the  fox  does. 
But  the  butterfly  generally  escapes  the  jacket. 

How  could  our  young  friends  help  being 
tempted  aside  after  the  butterflies,  or,  for  the 
matter  of  that,  after  the  moths  which  came  out 
as  they  returned  to  school  in  the  gloaming  ?  As 
a  rule,  they  were  too  much  interested  in  other 
things  in  the  daytime,  but  in  the  evening  the 
moths  were  a  sad  and  almost  sole  temptation. 

Of  course  they  were  aware  that,  whilst  butterflies 
are  dhinial  insects,  moths  are  usually  nocturnal. 
They  also  knew — for  the  professor  had  already 
pointed  the  fact  out — that  one  could  always  tell 
a  butterfly  from  a  moth  by  the  antennae  of  the 
former  being  clubbed  at  their  ends.  He  had  also 
drawn  their  attention  to  the  law  of  mimicry  dis- 
covered by  that  prince  of  entomologists,  Mr.  Henry 
Bates.  By  this  law,  insects  possessing  stings  or 
other  self-defences,  are  often  marvellously  imitated 
by  other  insects  belonging  to  orders, as  far  apart 
from  them  as  the  poles. 


NIMRODS  AMONG   THE  LEFIDOPTERA. 


53 


Now,  if  you  and  I  pretend  to  be  what  we  are 
not,  our  conduct  is  called  humbugging.  If  we 
push  it  to  extremes  of  deception,  it  may  be  de- 
nominated lying,  and  we  may  undergo  the  risk  of 


Fig-  33- — Narrow-bordered  clear-wing. 

imprisonment  for  living  under  "  false  pretences." 
But  when  insects,  plants,  etc.,  adopt  this  policy  of 
duplicity,   naturalists    call    it   mimicry.      There   is 


Fig.  34. —  Hornet  clear-wing.         Fig.  35. — Currant  clear-wing. 

something  in  a  name,  after  all,  despite  the  remark 
of  Shakespeare. 

Look  at  those  British  insects  called  the  "  clear- 
wings,"  for  example.      They  fly  in    the  daytime, 


54 


THE   PLAYTIME   NATURALIST. 


and  look  to  all  the  world  like  so  many  hornets, 
wasps,  bumble-bees,  ichneumons,  and  other  insects 
people  don't  care  to  make  too  famihar  an  aquaint- 
ance  with,  on  account  of  their  stings.     They  not 


Fig.  36.— Broad-bordered  clear- wing. 

only  marvellously  resemble  sting-possessing  insects, 
but  some  ot  them  fly  in  the  same  manner.  You 
don't    see    them    fluttering    like    leaves,  after  the 


FiR'  Zl- — Humming-bird  hawk  moth. 

manner  of  butterflies,  zigzagging  about  the  road  ; 
they  fly  straight,  and  hover  over  flowers.  One 
nearly  allied  species  to  these  clear-wings,  the  hum- 
ming-bird hawk  moth  {Macroglossa  stellatarum),  has 


NIMRODS  AMONG   THE  LEPIDOPTERA.  55 

the  under-wings  somewhat  resembling  the  above- 
mentioned  insects.  If  you  rub  off  the  "dust," 
as  it  is  called,  from  the  wings  of  butterflies  and 
moths,  you  make  them  "  clear-wings  "—that  is,  you 


Fig.  38. — Transparent 
burnet. 


Fig.  39.— Red-belted 


clear-wing. 


get  at  the  transparent  membranes  over  which  the 
"  scales  "  are  arranged  like  tiles  on  a  housetop. 

Every  species  of  butterfly  and  moth  has  a  specific 
set  of  scales,  sometimes  two  or  three  patterns  in 


Fig.  40. — Scale  from  Vanessa  urticcE  (magnified). 

different  parts  of  the  wings.  Most  of  them  are 
very  beautiful  objects  when  seen  under  a  micro- 
scope. The  little  grains  of  dust  which  come  off 
the  wings  of  a  captured  butterfly  so  readily,  then 


56 


THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST 


expand  into  distinct  shapes  with  characteristic 
markings.  Here  are  the  magnified  scales  of  the 
smaller  tortoiseshell  butterfly  ( Vanessa  twticcE)  and 
the  white  cabbage  butterfly  {Pieris  brassiccB),  etc., 
for  instance,   showing  the   lines  or  rows  of  small 


Fig.  41. — Scale  from 
Pieris  brassicce. 


Fig.  42. — Battledore  scale  from 
Polyo7n7natus  alexis. 


dots,  which  are  so  close  together  that  they  look 
like  lines. 

The  more  highly  you  magnify  these  natural 
objects,  the  more  beauties  do  you  discover. 

It  is  the  same  with  the  eggs  of  insects.  Few 
people  are  aware  of  the  lovely,  ivory-carved -like 
appearance  of  the  eggs  of  the  bluebottle,  or  even 


NIMRODS  AMONG    THE  LEPIDOPTERA. 


57 


of  the  common  house-fly.  The  eggs  of  butterflies 
and  moths,  like  their  scales,  are  often  exquisitely 
adorned  with  dots,  lines,  tubercles,  and  stipples, 
which  require  a  good  magnifying  power  properly 


Fig.  43. — Scale  from 
Pieris  brassjccc. 


Fig.  44, — Scale  from 
Hipparchia  janira. 


to  behold  them.  Pick  up  the  eggs  of  any  butter- 
fly or  moth  (and  I  don't  see  why  butterflies'  eggs 
should  not  be  as  well  known  as  birds'  eggs  ;  they 
are   certainly  quite    as    beautiful,  if  they  do    not 


58 


THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 


excel  them  in  beauty).  It  would  be  a  capital 
thing  for  one  or  two  young  fellows  like  our  friends 
to  begin  collecting  insects'  eggs. 


Fig.  45. — Egg  of  Pieris 
brassicce. 


Fig.  46.  —  Egg  of  Vanessa 
atalanta. 


Every  young  naturalist  ought  to  be  something 
of  an  artist.     Drawing  ought  to  be  as  much  resorted 


Fig.  47. — Egg  of  the  buff-tip. 


Fig.  48.  ^Egg  of  meadow 
brown  butterfly. 


to  for  the  expression  of  certain   ideas  as  writing. 


NIMRODS  AMONG   THE  LEPIDOFTERA. 


59- 


A  naturalist  ought  to  be  able  to  sketch  what  he 
describes.  "  Word-pictures  "  are  all  very  well,  but 
real  pictorial  representations  are  better  in  natural 
science. 


Fig.  49. — Egg  of  the  common 
magpie  moth. 


Fig.  50. — Egg  of  Poly- 
om?nahis  corydon. 


These  highly  magnified  pictures  of  the  eggs  of 
some  of  our  commoner  species  of  butterflies  and 
moths  will  give  a  good  idea  of  what  I  mean.     My 


w^m 


m^ 


iW, 


9^i 


Fig.  51. — Egg  of  the 

cabbage  moth. 


Fig.  52.— Egg  of  the  small 
copper. 


readers  will  observe  at  a  glance  that  each  kind  Is 
distinguished  by  a  special  egg-pattern,  just  as  birds' 
eggs  differ  in  colour  and  marking. 


60  THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 

These  matters  had  hardly  as  yet  possessed  the 
minds  of  our  young  friends  ;  but  the  ardent  love  of 
nature  possessed  by  their  science-teacher  had 
caused  him  to  hint  at  them,  and  suggest  many  of 
these  thoughts  to  the  boys  of  his  class.  As  the 
summer  drew  on,  he  went  out  on  the  half-holidays 
with  those  young  fellows  whom  he  had  mentally 
inoculated  with  his  own  tastes. 

What  glorious  collecting  and  hunting  times  those 
were  !  Nothing  was  left  unnoticed,  or  uncollected. 
Every  commonplace  plant,  insect,  bird,  stone, 
lungus,  moss,  became  a  prize. 

You  would  have  imagined,  from  the  personal 
pleasure  the  young  professor  manifested  when 
some  lad  brought  him  one  of  these  things,  that  it 
was  the  very  rarest  or  the  most  instructive  object 
that  could  possibly  have  been  brought  to  him. 
How  happy  was  the  ignorant  young  lad  who  had 
the  good  fortune  to  find  it,  and  how  zealously  he 
looked  about  to  find  something  else  ! 

Even  if  the  boys  had  forgotten  every  object 
whose  name  and  character  they  learned,  they 
would  have  been  great  gainers  ;  they  had  learned 
to  observe — to  use  their  own  eyes.  Many  people 
think  they  do,  when  in  reality  they  are  using  other 
folk's,  and  are  simply  finding  what  they  are  told 


NIMRODS  AMONG   THE   LEPIDOPTERA. 


6i 


to  look  for,  and  nothing  else.     That  is  not  the  way 
for  knowledge  to  increase. 

What  hosts  of 
things  there  are  to  be 
observed  in  our  green 
lanes !  what  hiero- 
glyphics to  be  de- 
ciphered! The  leaves 
of  the  bramble,  haw- 
thorn, oak,  and  other 
shrubs  and  trees,  are 


Fig.  53-— Mined  oak-leaf. 


marked   with  zigzag  or   sinuous   markings.     They 
are  about  the  commonest  objects  to  be  met  with, 


.vv^N' 


N^ 


mn 


Fig   54. — Mined  bramble-leaf. 

and  we  may  therefore  be  sure  they  did  not  escape 
the  professor's  ardent  class. 


62 


THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 


They  learned  that  certain  very  small  grubs,  the 
larvae  of  one  of  the  smallest  moths,  in  order  to  be 
secure,  mined  beneath  the  upper  and  the  under 
skins  or  surfaces  of  these  leaves,  thus  getting  both 
food  and  protection.  Holly  leaves  are  favourite 
ones  for  another  species  of  moth.  If  the  leaf  is 
still    green,    probably    you    will    find    the    minute 


Fig.  55.  —  Larva  of  Microptery x 
stibpurpurella  (enlarged),  the 
caterpillar  which  mines  the 
oak-leaf. 


Fig.  56. — Larva  of  A^cpticula 
durella^  the  miner  of  the 
bramble-leaf  (magnified). 


caterpillar  housed  inside.  Then  you  can  magnify 
it,  and  take  as  many  observations  of  it  under  the 
microscope  as  you  like. 

Many  of  the  boys  had  rigged  up  butterfly-nets 
out  of  a  walking-stick,  with  a  bag  mounted  as  you 


NIMRODS  AMONG    THE  LEriDOPTERA. 


63 


see  beneath ;  others  had  the  usual  regulation 
equipment.  But  the  professor  was  not  so  anxious 
to  collect  as  to  ob- 
serve, although  he 
well  knew  that  if 
the  boys  did  not 
capture  something, 
they  would  lose 
interest. 

For  instance,  on 
their  leisurely  ram- 
ble they  came  across 
a  tree  whose  trunk 
had  been  bored  and 
drilled  very  recent- 
ly, as  could    be  told  Fig.  57.— Umbrella  net. 

by  the  little  pile  of  sawdust  at  the  base.     He  pointed 
out  that  this  was  the  work  of  that  big  fat  grub  which, 


FIct.  58. — Larva  of  goat-moth. 


it  is  said,  the  ancient  Romans  regarded  as  a  bonne 


64 


THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 


boiiche,  the  caterpillar  of  the  goat-moth  {Cossus  ligni- 
perdd).     They  were  not  long  before  they  dislodged 

the   creature.     It    was 


dropped    alive    into    a 
%     larva-box,    for    further 
observation  in  the   in- 

Fig.  59. — Boxes  for  larvae. 

sectarium,  where  it  was 
subsequently  seen  to  cover  itselt  with  a  layer  of 


Fig.  60.— Pupa  ot  goat-moth. 

sawdust  as  a  cocoon,  beneath  which  it  underwent 


Fig.  61. — The  goat-moth. 

that  marvellous  physiological  transformation  which 


NIMRODS  AMONG    THE  LEPIDOPTERA. 


6s 


changes  both  interior  and  exterior  of  a  grub  into  a 
butterfly  or  nnoth.  The  beginning  of  this  change, 
however,  had  aheady  commenced  when  the  cater- 
pillar entered  the  pupal  state.  In  that  apparently 
resting  stage,  the  materials  ela- 
borated by  the  greedy  and  fast- 
growing  grub  are  worked  up 
into  additional  tissues,  nmscles, 
and  organs  of  locomotion. 

The  manner  in  which  the 
various  members  of  the  Lepi- 
doptera  instinctively  prepare 
for  these  several  changes  was 
pointed  out  some  days  after- 
wards, in  the  case  of  the  white 
cabbage  butterfly  {Pieris  bras- 
siccs).  When  it  is  commencing 
to  form  the  silk  cord  which  will 
support  the  future  chrysalis,  it 
bends  back  its  head  to  the 
fourth  segment  of  the  body,  and 
then  turns  its  head  dowmwards 
on  the  right  side,  so  as  to  bring  its  mouth  to  the 
point  marked  a  (Fig.  62).  There  it  fixes  its  first 
line  of  silk  ;  then  it  carries  its  head  over  to  the  left 
side,  spinning  a  silk  line  all  the  time,  and  after- 


Fig.  62. — Stage  of 
metamorphosis  of 
Pieris  brassicce. 


66 


THE   PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 


wards  fastening  it  down  on  the  left  side — again 
bringing  the  silk  line  to  the  right  side,  and  fasten- 
ing it  down.  The  caterpillar  repeats  this  process 
about  forty  times,  until   as  many  silk  lines   have 


Fig.  63. — Another  stage  m  meta- 
morphosis of  Fieris  brassiccc. 


Fig.  64. — Chrysalis  of 
P.  brassicce. 


bound  it  to  the  spot  it  has  elected  to  pass  the 
chrysalis  stage  in.  The  silk  is  drawn  so  tightly 
that  the  creature  appears  as  if  its  body  would  be 
severed  in  twain.     Then  comes  the  task  of  releasing 


NIMROVS  AMONG   THE  LEPIDOPTERA.         6/ 

the  head  from  this  bent-back  and  tied-down  con- 
dition ;  but  the  caterpillar  takes  advantage  of  the 
elasticity  of  the  freshly  made  silk,  and  is  then  in 
the  position  shown  at  b  (Fig.  63),  where  it  rests 
until  the  chrysalis  is  formed.  Then  the  old  cater- 
pillar skin  is  thrown  off  from  under  the  silken 
cords,  and  the  true  chrysalis  is  seen  (Fig.  64). 

The  professor  talked  a  good  deal  about  eater- 


Fig.  65. — The  emperor  moth. 

pillars  and  chrysalids.  It  is  astonishing  how  much 
can  be  said  about  them.  He  showed  that  the 
hairy  kinds  are  never  eaten  by  birds,  and  that 
green  caterpillars  were  seldom  hairy.  This  was 
because  their  green  colour  screened  and  protected 
them  by  causing  them  to  resemble  the  foliage  on 
which  they  feed.  Even  fish  will  not  eat  the  hairy 
caterpillars — only  the  green  or  naked  kinds. 
Consequently    the    hairy    species    rejoice.      They 


68  THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 

seem  to  know  they  are  safe.  Many  of  them  can 
roll  themselves  into  a  ball,  like  that  of  Arctia 
caja,  and  then  they  are  about  as  edible  as  a  live 
hedgehog  would  be  to  a  hungry  man !  These 
hairy  caterpillars  are  often  brilliantly  coloured  and 
prominently  marked,  as  if  they  invited  notice  in- 
stead of  concealment ;  and  as  if  they  knew  they 
could  say  to  the  birds,  "  Here  we  are  ;  eat  us 
if  you  dare  !  '* 


Fig.  66.  —  Caterpillar  of  emperor  moth. 

Some  of  the  commonest  of  these  protected  cater- 
pillars are  those  of  the  little  eggar  moth  {Eriogaster 
lanestris).  Indeed,  this  species  is  doubly  pro- 
tected, for  not  only  are  the  bodies  of  the  cater- 
pillars more  or  less  hairy,  but  they  have  the  power 
of  spinning  a  strong  silken  tent  or  web,  beneath 
which  they  safely  consume  the  leaves  of  the  plants 
on  which  they  feed.  They  live  in  social  colonies, 
and  this  habit  must  be  of  great  service  to  them. 
In    dry,    hot    summers,    the    hedgerows    are    not 


NIMRODS  AMONG    THE  LEPWOPTERA.         69 

unfrequently  festooned  with  the  webs  for  yards  in 
length,  and  the  leaves  are  stripped  off  as  if  a  fire 
had  passed  over  them.  Then  as  to  the  origin  and 
meaning  of  many  of  the  dots  and  markings  on 
caterpillars.  Look  at  those  on  the  Sphinx  family, 
for  instance.     The  caterpillars  moult  a  good  many 


Fig[.  67. — Caterpillar,  cocoon,  and  imago  of  small  eggar 
moth  {Ej'iogaster  iaiiesi?'is). 

times  in  the  process  of  growth.  Every  time  the 
body  is  differently  marked,  although  it  is  the  last 
set  of  markings  which  are  usually  recognized  as 
distinctive.  The  caterpillars  of  different  species  of 
Sphinx  moths  are  known  by  their  different  mark- 
ings ;    and    the    professor    showed    his    attentive 


70  THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 

students  how,  in  perhaps  the  most  abundantly  and 
prominently  marked  species,  the  markings  on  each 
moult  more  or  less  resemble  those  of  each  of  the 
various  species  of  the  group.  In  other  words,  that 
a  single  caterpillar  repeats,  in  the  development  of 
its  own  individual  life-history,  the  changes  which 
have  caused  the  development  of  species. 

The  manner  in  which  caterpillars  fed  furnished 


Fig.  68. — Bedstraw  hawk  moth. 

another  theme  for  description  and  discussion. 
It  arose  one  day  from  one  of  the  boys  being  almost 
startled  at  finding  that  buffoon  of  the  caterpillar 
world,  the  larva  of  the  puss  moth  (Fig.  69). 
There  it  was,  sitting  like  a  dowager,  on  the  edge 
of  a  leaf,  comfortably  cutting  and  coming  again  as 
its  voracious  appetite  dictated,  and  pretending  to 
look  fierce,  like  a  Japanese  warrior.     Now,  pretence 


NIMRODS  AMONG    THE   LEPIDOPTERA. 


71 


is  like  advertising — it's  no  good  unless  you  do  it 


well,  and  be  earnest  in   doing  it.      So   the   cater- 


72 


THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 


pillar    of    Vinula    has    succeeded,    as    its    portrait 
shows. 

The  resemblances  borne  by  many  of  the  micro- 
Lepidoptera,  that  is,  the  minute  moths  (gnats, 
ignorant  people  call  them),  to  other  objects,  for 
protective  purposes — such,  for  instance,  as  their 
resemblance  even  to  the  droppings  of  birds  on 
leaves  ;  their  green,  brown,  and  lichen  tints,  all 
more  or  less    protective — were    discussed.     These 


•v/^yy  ^  'Va>^ 


Fig.  70. — Vapourer  moth,       Fig.  71. — Ditto, 
male.  female. 


discussions  gave   quite  a  zest   to  the  discovery  of 
specimens  confirmatory  of  the  theory. 

Then  it  was  shown  how  the  females  of  certain 
moths  were  wingless — how,  in  one  species,  they 
practically  never  advanced  beyond  the  caterpillar 
stage  ;  in  another,  hardly  beyond  the  pupa  stage, 
and  so  on  ;  how,  for  protective  purposes,  one 
wingless  female  had  six  long  legs,  and  resembled 
a  spider  so  much  that  you  would  hardly  have 
known  the  difference   without   counting   the    legs 


NIMRODS  AMONG   THE   LEPIDOPTERA.         73 

first,  which  is  a  thing  few  birds  do.  In  all  these 
species  the  male  is  fully  winged  as  usual. 

As  the  summer  drew  on,  and  the  holidays 
approached,  you  may  be  sure  that  not  only  our 
two  friends,  but  nearly  the  whole  class,  determined 
to  indulge  to  the  full  in  the  newly  discovered 
pleasure  of  observing  and  collecting.  They  were 
put  up  to  all  kinds  of  dodges — how  to  proceed, 
what  to  look  for,  how  to  preserve  it,  etc.  One  lad 
had  a  fad  for  beetles,  another  for  shells,  and 
several  of  them  for  anything  and  everything  they 
could  get.  Butterfly  and  moth  collecting,  how- 
ever, are  nearly  always  the  first  subjects  boys  take 
to  who  have  a  natural-history  turn  of  mind.  Their 
teacher  was  perfectly  aware  of  this,  and  therefore 
encouraged  them.  He  knew  that  many  such 
collectors  would  proceed  to  other  studies,  and 
would  collect  other  objects  ;  but  he  was  aware 
that  the  habit  engendered  by  butterfly  and  moth 
hunting  would  abide  in  any  other  pursuit. 

So  he  initiated  them  into  the  mysteries  of  beat- 
ing and  hunting  willows,  brambles,  heather,  etc., 
after  dark,  with  a  lantern  and  net ;  also  in  "  sugar- 
ing " — which  is  about  as  interesting  a  pursuit  as 
a  romantic  lad  could  be  introduced  to.  The 
results    of    sugaring    can    only    be    known    after 


74 


THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 


dark,  and  the  young  collector  feels  something 
brigandish  or  poacher-like  as  he  goes  about  with 
his  dark  lantern,  examining  the  tree-trunks  which 

have  been  smeared  with 
a  beery  mixture  of 
sugar  and  treacle  and 
a  little  rum,  etc.  The 
smearing  is  generally 
done  just  before  dusk, 
\\  and  the  baited  spots 
are  visited  when  dark- 
ness has  set  in.  Then 
it  is  astonishing  what  a  number  of  guests  have 
invited  themselves  to  the  spread.  The  only 
circular   issued    to   them   was    the    smell  of  rum, 


Fig.  72.--  Lantern  and  net. 


Fig.  74. — Small  black  arches. 


Fig.  73. — Diphthera  Orion. 


Fig.  75. — Hyria  aii7'oraria. 


or  aniseed,  or  whatever  else  had  been  put  in  the 
sugaring  mixture.  Insects  have  an  almost  phe- 
nomenal development  of  the  sense  of  smell.     It  is 


NIMRODS  AMOXG    THE   LEFIDOPTERA. 


75 


SO  keen  that  if  you  carry  some  species  of  im- 
prisoned virgin  females  you  have  reared  yourself 
(although,  perhaps,  of  a  rarish  kind)  in  a  perforated 


Fig.  76. — Clouded  buff  moth 
(female). 


Fig.  77* — Selidosema  pluniaria 
(male). 


box,  all  the  male  insects  for  miles  round  will  come 
trooping  to  her,  like  so  many  mediaeval  brave 
knights  serenading 
an  imprisoned  dam- 
sel !  Our  own  sense 
of  smell,  although  it 
beats  the  spectro- 
scope for  keenness 
of  detection,  is  dull  and  sluggish  when  compared 
with  that  possessed  by  many  insects. 


Fig.  *]%. — LitJwsia  qztadra. 


Fig-  79-  — Scarlet  tiger  moth. 


76 


THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 


We    ought    to   be   thankful    such    is   the    case. 

Flowers  would   never  have  possessed   perfumes  if 

flower-hunting  in- 
sects had  not  been 
gifted  with  a  keen 
sense  of  smell.  Per- 
haps that  sense  and 
the  perfumes  have 

originated  side  by  side,  and  helped  to  develop  each 

other. 


Fig.  80. — Early  thorn  moth. 


Fig.  8 1 .  —  7  hyatira  batis.  Fig.  82.  —Male  and  female 

of  oak  hook-tip  moth. 

Those   charming   sultry  summer  evenings  with 


Fig.  83. — Pale  oak  beauty. 


NIMRODS  AMONG    THE   LEPIDOPTERA.        yy 

the  sugaring-pot,  the  collecting-net,  and  the  dark 
lantern  !      They    leave    too    delightfully   and    en- 


Fig.  84. — The  large  emerald  moth. 

duringly  keen  a  sense  of  pleasure  for  all  the  years 


Fig.  85.  —The  brindle  white- 
shot  moth. 


Fig.  86. — The  herald  moth. 


of    after- memory   to   be    able   even    to    obliterate 
them. 


Fig.  87.— Female  of  four-spotted  footman. 

Of  course,    a    large    number   of   the   butterflies 


78 


THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 


caught  in  the  daytime,  and  of  moths  captured  at 
night,  were  common  species.     But  that  is  nothing, 


Y\g.  88. — Male  of  four-spotted 
footman. 


Fig.  89. — Fhilophora 
plunngera. 


at  first,  to  the  young  collector,  to  whom  the  joy  of 
possession  counts  for  a  good  deal. 


Fig.  90. — Fox  moth. 


Fig.  91. — Cream-spotted  tiger  moth. 

But  as   our  friends  varied  their  evening  walks, 


NIMRODS  AMONG   THE  LEPIDOPTERA.         79 


sometimes  in    the  woods,  at  others    in   the  green 
lanes,  or  over  the  heath,  or  down  by  the  marsh, 


Fig.  92. — The  gold-shot  moth.      Fig.  93. — The  black-vein  moth. 

they  found  that   different    species   of  moths  were 
pecuHar   to    these    various    habitats,   or   locahties. 


Fig.  94. — The  bordered 
white  moth. 


Fig.  95. — Selidosetiia 
piuDiaria  (female). 


Perhaps  it  w^as  because  each  place  is  so  physically 
different,  and   therefore  different   flowering  plants 


Fig.  96. — The  chalk  carpet- 
moth. 


Fig.  97.-^The  small 
emerald  moth. 


grow  in   each.     Moreover,  they  soon  learned  that 
soils  and  rocks  regulated  the  distribution  of  species. 


8o 


THE   PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 


You  find  one  kind  only  on  light  lands,  another 
only  on  heavy.  Species  are  only  met  with  pecu- 
liar to  limey  or  chalky  strata,  and  others  where 
sandstone,  shale,   or   other    rocks    prevail.      It    is, 


Fig.  98. — Setting-board  for  Lepidoptera. 

perhaps,   this    wonderful    physical    and    geological 
differentiation    of    the    earth's    terrestrial     surface 


f^i 


Fig.  99. — Front  view  of  properly        Fig.  100. — Side  view  of  pru- 
pinned-out  insect.  perly  pinned-out  insect. 

which  has  largely  assisted  in  developing  species  of 
flowering  plants,  and,  through  them,  of  many  kinds 
of  insects. 


NIMRODS  AMONG    THE    LEPIDOPTERA. 


8i 


The  use  of  the  cyanide-bottle  for  instantly  kill- 
ing specimens,  and  how  to  set  them  out  and 
properly    strap    and    pin    them    down    afterwards, 


L_.. 


Fig.  loi. — Mode  of  setting  out  Lepidoptera  on  level  board. 

were  all  carefully  explained  to  the  young  natu- 
ralists. There  is  no  part  of  any  of  these  mechanical 
apparatuses  which  any  ingenious  youth  cannot 
make  or  rig  up  for  himself. 


Fig.  I02. — Moth  set  out  on  cork  saddle. 

In  addition  to  the  long,  flat,  grooved  setting- 
board  above  shown,  a  grooved  cork  saddle  is  fre- 
quently   used,    and    the    accompanying    side    and 


82  THE   PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 

front  views  of  the  insects  when  pinned  down,  will 
give  a  clear  idea  of  how  they  are  arranged.  The 
use  of  thin  but  stiff  paper  straps  for  holding  down 
the  wings,  antennae,  etc.,  and  arranging  them  in 
the  freshly  set-out  butterflies  or  moths  until  they 


Fig.  103. — Example  of  four-strap  setting. 

have  assumed  the  rigidity  desired   in  the  cabinet, 
will  also  be  made  evident  by  our  illustrations. 

At  any  rate,  our  professor  did  his  best  to  start 
the  lads,  to  whom  he  was  much  attached,  to 
observe,  collect,  and  arrange  for  themselves.  If 
they  failed  to  take  advantage  of  his  experience 
and  ready  help,  it  was  their  own  fault. 


CHAPTER  V. 

HOLIDAY    RAMBLES   AND  ADVENTURES. 

MUGBY  School  broke  up  for  the  holidays  eadier 
in  the  summer  than  others.  Jack  Hampson  went 
home  with  a  h'mited  but  enthusiastic  stock  of 
knowledge  concerning  common  natural  history 
objects.  If  he  did  not  know  much,  at  any  rate 
he  had  learned  to  make  a  country  walk  more  en- 
joyable than  he  had  thought  such  perambulations 
could  turn  out.  He  was  not  long  in  displaying  his 
newly  obtained  knowledge ;  and  even  if  he  were 
a  little  proud  of  it,  and  rather  paraded  it  a  trifle, 
it  was  pardonable.  But  he  was  not  a  prig,  so  there 
was  little  of  either  brag  or  show  in  his  ready  dis- 
play of  what  so  much  interested  him.  Rather,  it 
was  the  zeal  of  a  proselyte.  He  wanted  others  to 
enjoy  his  own  new-born  pleasure.  He  could  not 
keep  it  to  himself;  it  bubbled  over  irresistibly. 

Now,  that  is  the  sort  of  human  being. — lad  or 
man — to  make  converts  1    You  cannot  quarrel  with 


84  THE   PLAYTIME  NATURALIST, 

him.  You  may  pretend  to  laugh  at  him,  or  poke 
fun  at  his  notions;  but,  if  he  has  any  "go,"  it 
is  ten  to  one  the  enthusiast  will  convert  you. 

The  first  convert  Jack  made  was  his  eldest 
sister — a  strong,  active  lassie  between  eleven  and 
twelve  years  old.  His  younger  brother  was  also 
bitten,  but  not  so  rabidly,  for  younger  brothers 
don't  like  their  elder  brothers  to  see  they  can  do 
what  they  like  with  them,  and  cram  any  notions 
they  please  down  their  throats.  Then  there  were 
a  couple  of  cousins,  fine  lads,  from  another  school, 
who  presently  joined  the  Hampson  party,  and 
they  fell  victims  to  the  mania  for  collecting  and 
preserving.  The  time  for  birds'-nesting  was,  un- 
fortunately, nearly  over ;  but  moths  and  butterflies 
were  to  be  had  for  the  hunting,  and  the  delights 
of  chasing  them  in  the  daytime  and  of  sugaring 
for  them  in  the  evening,  were  duly  indulged  in. 

I  have  said  that  the  young  professor  knew  that 
an  energetic  boy  like  Jack  would  soon  extend  his 
observations  further  afield  ;  that  presently  he 
would  have  captured  nearly  all  the  common 
species  of  Lepidoptera  in  his  neighbourhood,  and 
would  be  sighing  for  something  else  to  conquer. 
So  he  told  him  to  collect  anything  he  saw  in  his 
rambles — anything,  he  said,  except  tombstones  I 


HOLIDAY  RAMBLES  AND   ADVENTURES.       85 

One  cannot  take  a  walk  a  hundred  yards  in  the 
country  without  seeing  plenty  of  natural  objects 
of  which  we  are  in  perfect  ignorance.  We  don't 
know  even  their  names,  to  say  nothing  about 
the  structures,  life-histories,  and  general  habits. 
Nowadays,  a  grown-up  man  or  woman  is  ashamed 
of  being  unable  to  read.  Yet  how  many  millions 
of  people  are  not  ashamed  of  being  unable  to  read 
this  great  Book  of  Nature,  written  within  and 
without  like  the  prophet's  scroll,  by  the  finger  of 
the  Almighty  Father  Himself? 

Jack  was  to  send  all  such  general  objects  as  he 
was  not  acquainted  with  to  the  teacher,  who  had 
promised  to  name  them.  Willie  and  he  were  to 
write  to  each  other,  and  duly  report  progress  as  to 
their  several  finds.  To  add  to  their  zeal  (should 
there  be  any  danger  of  its  flagging),  Jack's  uncle 
had  promised  him  what  he  now  desired  to  possess 
more  than  anything  in  the  whole  world,  a  student's 
microscope.  His  birthday  was  only  three  weeks 
off,  and  the  present  was  expected  to  crown  that 
auspicious  occasion.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  it 
did  so. 

The  young  students  begged  and  procured  a 
room  over  the  stables,  where  they  could  keep  their 
treasures  without  littering  up  the  house,  or  frighten- 


86 


THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 


ing  the  servant-maids  with  their  nasty  things. 
That  was  a  grand  room  on  wet  days,  especially 
after  the  precious  microscope  had  arrived. 

Several  packages  of  unknown  odds  and  ends, 
chiefly  insects  other  than  butterflies  and  moths, 
had  been  sent  to  the  professor,  who  seldom  lost 
much  time  in  telling  them  what  they  were — for, 
after  all,  they  were  among  the  common  objects  ; 
few  rare  ones  appeared. 


Fig.  104. — Gall  insect  {Cyjiips  kollari)^  nat.  size  and  enlarged. 

Among  these  were  the  numerous  galls  on  plants, 
shrubs,  and  trees  of  all  kinds,  made  by  certain 
kinds  of  insects,  so  as  not  only  to  conceal  their 
young  from  enemies,  but  place  them  in  the  midst 
of  plenty  of  food. 

Some  of  these  gall  insects  attack  the  unde- 
veloped   leaf-buds  of  oaks,  preventing  the  leaves 


HOLIDAY  RAMBLES  AND  ADVENTbRES.       Zj 


developing,  or  the  branch  from  growing,  and 
causing  them  to  assume  the  appearance  which  has 
given  them  the  name  of  artichoke  galls.  Then 
there  are  the  various  oak-apples,  button-galls,  oak- 
spangles,    some    of 


which  are  often 
thought  by  young 
naturalists  to  be  a 
kind  of  parasitic 
fungus.  They  occur 
usually  on  the 
under  -  surfaces     of 


Fig.  105. — Insect  of  the  button  gall 

(enlarged). 


oak-leaves,  as  the  illustrations  indicate.  The 
minute  dipterous  insects  whose  venom  and  irrita- 
tion   set  up    the    vegetable   inflammations    which 


Fig.  106. — Gall  insect  (nat.  size  and  enlarged). 

result  in  these  curious  growths,  were  sketched,  both 
natural  size  and  enlarged.      Galls  were  found    in 


8S 


THE  PLAYTIME   NATURALIST. 


many  flowering  plants,  such  as  the  seed-vessels  of 
the  pretty  germander  speedwell.  The  lovely  "robin- 
redbreast's  cushion,"  on 
the  branches  of  the  wild 
roses,  is  one  of  the  best 
known.  So  are  the  oval, 
reddish,  wart-like  lumps 
on  the  leaves  of  willows, 
and  the  swellings  on  the 
stems  of  the  ragwort. 
They  bulge  out  certain  of 
theseed-vessels  ofumbel- 
liferous  plants,  and  cause 
the  thread-like  leaves 
of  the  common  yarrow 
to  develop  into  vase-like 
cups.  The  stem  of  the 
thistle  often  expands 
into  large  oval  shapes, 
and  if  you  cut  one  open, 
you  find  it  divided  into 
compartments,  in  each  of 
^  „  ,  ,    -   „,      which  is  lodged  a  fat  grub. 

Fig.  T07. — Galls  on  oak-leaf.    Ihe  °  ^ 

upper  portion  is  crowded  with    f  ^g  upper  SUrface  of  the 
galls   called    "spangles;"    the 

lower,  with  "  button  galls."        leaves  of  the  ground  ivy 
are  often  covered  with  little  hairy  galls,  in  each  of 


HOLIDAY  RAMBLES  AND   ADVENTURES.       89 

which  is  the  larva  of  anotlier  gall-fly,  or  Cecidomya. 
Even  the  stings  of  the  nettle  do  not  debar  another 
species  from  making  galls,  both  on  leaf,  flower- 
stalk,  and  leaf-stalk.  You  find  them  in  abundance 
on  the  ends  of  elm  twigs,  as  well  as  on  the  leaves  ; 
on  the  birch  leaves,  one  species  occurs  on  the 
upper  surface,  and  another  on  the  lower.  The 
oak  is  the  favourite  tree  for  these  insects  ;  more 
than  thirty  different  species  make  galls  on  it.  Per- 
haps   the  most    noteworthy  are    the  hard,  conical 


Fig.  loS. — Section  of     spangle"  Fig.    109. — Section  of 

gall  (magnified).  "  button  gall  "  (magnified). 

barnacle  galls,  which  may  be  found  clustering  the 
smaller  branches  of  the  oak.  The  willow  is  another 
favourite  tree  for  them.  In  addition  to  the  oval 
kinds  found  on  its  leaves,  you  may  discover  another 
which  clusters  along  the  edges.  Two  species  of 
galls  are  not  uncommon  on  poplar  leaf-stalks. 

The  boys  noticed  round  pieces  cut  out  of  the 
leaves  of  the  rose-trees  in  the  garden  ;  and  one 
day  they  caught  the  offender  right  in  the  act. 
They  watched  the  creature — the  leaf-cutter  bee 
{Megachile  WilloiigJibii) — turning  round  on  its  own 


90 


THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 


body  as  a  pivot,  cutting  the  leaf  as  it  rotated  ;  and 
they  could  not  help  admiring  the  ingenious  way 
with  which  it  flew  off,  just  when  they  imagined  the 
bee  would  come  to  the  same  fate  as  the  silly  wood- 
man who  sat  astride  the  big  bough  he  was  sawing 
off.  But  the  bee  was  not  such  a  fool.  It  flew 
away  with  the  round  bit  of  leaf  just  at  the  precise 


Fig.  no. — Rose-leaf  cut  by 
leaf-cutter  bee. 


Fig.  III.  —  Leaf-cutter  bee 
{Megachile  Willotighbii)  cut- 
ting a  piece  of  leaf  for  its 
cell. 


moment  when  it  was  cut,  and  used  it  at  once  to 
line  its  cell  with. 

The  two-winged,  or  dipterous,  insects  are  com- 
mon enough,  but,  although  some  of  them  are 
remarkably  pretty,  adorned  with  red,  blue,  and 
golden  metallic  tints,  the  majority  are  of  a  dun 
colour.  The  coloured  Diptera  are  almost  in  every 
case  flower-visitors.     It  is  an  example  of  the  old 


HOLIDAY  RAMBLES  AND  ADVENTURES.       9 1 

proverb,  that  you  can  tell  a  man  by  the  company 
he   keeps.      So   you    can    a    fly,    as    a   rule.     The 


Fig.  112. — Conops  ralipes^  male. 


Fig.  113. — Golden-eyed  gadfly. 

colours  of  flowers  are  associated  in  insects*  minds 
with  the  pleasure  derived  from  finding  their  food 


92 


THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 


there.     A  colour-sense  is  thus  developed.     Colours 
produce  pleasant  associations.    Those  insects  which 


Fig.  114. — Alyopa  testacea,  male. 

are  themselves  coloured  become  all  the  more  ac- 
ceptable to  their  mates.  Hence  the  colouration  of 
butterflies,   and  of  fruit-eating  and  flower-visiting 


Fig,  II 5.  — Buct'jites  geiiiculaiiis. 

birds,  like  the  trogons,  macaws,  parrots,  sun-birds, 
and  humming-birds. 


HOLIDAY  RAMBLES  AND   ADVENTURES.       93 

Then,  again,  in  such  flies  as  Bombylius  we  have 
the  same  kind  of  mimicry  as  in  the  clear-wing 
moths.  There  are  several  species  of  this  fly,  all 
of  which  more  or  less  resemble  bumble-bees,  both 
in  their  mode  of  flight,  shape,  and  even  the  sounds 
they  make.  As  you  see  them  flitting  from  one 
flower  to  another,  and  hovering  and  creeping  about 


Fig.  116. — Asihis  Crabroniforjiiis,  female. 

them,  if  you  were  not  an  entomologist,  you  would 
be  certain  it  was  some  sort  of  a  bee,  and  of  course 
had  a  sting.  It  has  nothing  of  the  kind  ;  it  only 
pretends  to  have  one. 

These  two-winged,  flower-haunting  flies  are  very 
fond  of  visiting  the  numerous  specfes  of  flowers 
belonging  to  the  natural  orders  Compositse  and 
Umbelliferae.     Indeed,  they  are   among   the  chief 


94 


THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST 


agents  in  cross-fertilizing  such  flowers.  It  is  there 
you  will  probably  find  the  Conops  shown  in  our 
illustration,  trying  to  make  birds  believe  it  is 
some   kind  of  wasp.     One  species,  Conops  quadri- 


Fig.  117. — Yootoi  Asilus  Crabronifortnis  (magnified). 

fasciatay  has  almost  exactly  the  same  colours  as  a 
wasp.  Some  of  the  species  of  the  Syrphidse  are 
similarly  marked,  and  actually  go  by  the  name  of 
"  wasp-flies  "  on  that  account. 


HOLIDAY  RAMBLES  AND  ADVENTURES.       95 


Myopa  testacea  suggests  the  ludicrous,  on  account 
of  its  general  gouty  appearance.  Bucentes  geni- 
culatus  is  abundant  everywhere  during  the  whole 
summer  and  autumn.  It  is  nearly  as  large  as  a 
house-fly.  Asiliis  crabro7iiforinis  is  perhaps  the 
largest  and  strongest  species  of  British  Diptera, 
the  female  being  larger  than  the  male,  as  is 
usual  with  most  insects.     The  boys  had  to  go  to 


Fig.  118. — Bombylius 
medus. 


Fig.  119. — Leptogaster  cylindricus. 

the  heaths  to  find  this  fly,  for  it  is  rather  singular 
in  its  .occurrence.  Like  many  of  the  others,  it 
adopts  mimicry,  or  "  false  pretences,"  if  not  as  a 
profession,  as  a  protection.  Hence  its  popular 
name  of  the  "great  hornet  fly."  It  is  rather  a 
fierce-looking  creature,  although  its  colouring  is 
rich,   and    its    bronze-green,    compound   eyes   are 


96 


THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 


lovely  objects  under  the  microscope.  So  also  are 
its  feet,  with  their  remarkable  pads.  On  the  other 
hand,  quite  the  opposite  of  Bombylius,  we  have 
Leptogaster  cylindriais,  with  a  long  and  slender 
body,  giving  it  a  strong  resemblance  to  the  smaller 
dragon-flies.  It  is  one  of  the  commonest  of  our 
Diptera,  and  may  frequently  be  found  clinging  like 
a  winged  sloth  to  the  stems  of  plants.  Its  feet 
are  remarkably  adapted  to  this  sloth-like  habit. 


Fig.  I20. — Anthojuyia  phivialis. 

I  have  given  only  the  pith  of  the  information 
conveyed  in  the  professor's  genial  letters  to  the 
young  collectors,  as  I  thought  that  was  really  what 
my  own  readers  would  care  about  knowing.  But 
the  hints  and  practical  knowledge  they  gleaned 
therefrom     made     their     pursuits     all     the     more 


HOLIDAY  RAMBLES  AND   ADVENTURES.       97 

interesting.  He  also  gave  them  a  few  ideas  of 
what  to  look  for,  and  especially  what  to  do  on  wet 
days  when  they  couldn't  get  out,  for  those  are 
terrible  times  for  boys,  and  especially  to  impatient 
boys. 

"For  instance,"  said  he,  "there  is  the  common 
house-fly.     Now,  who  knows  anything  much  about 


Fig.  121.— The  common  house-fly  (enlarged). 

it,  except  that  it's  a  nuisance  ?  Try  and  find  out 
all  you  can  about  it,  its  eggs,  grub,  etc.  There 
isn't  one  person  in  a  thousand  knows  anything 
about  these  things.  They  don't  know  what  be- 
comes of  the  house-flies  in  the  winter;  they  don't 
know  where  they  come  from    in    summer     They 


98 


THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 


might  be  freshly  created  every  season,  and  rubbed 
out  of  existence  at  the  end,  for  what  most  people 
who  claim  to  be  intelligent  know  about  them  or 
their  habits." 


Fig.  122. — Egg  of  house-fly  (magnified). 

That  is  perfectly  true.  Indeed,  the  boys  had 
never  before  given  a  thought  to  house-flies,  although 
they  had  given  them  a  good  many  whacks — or  had 
tried  to. 


Fig.  123. — Maggot,  or  larva  (magnified),  showing  tracheal 

or  breathing  system. 

So  now  they  set  to  work.  A  house-fly  was  soon 
caught,  and  examined  with  a  low  magnifying 
power. 

A  few  eggs  were  found  on  a  cold  leg  of  lamb 


HOLIDAY  RAMBLES  AND  ADVENTURES.      99 

which  had  been  left  out,  very  considerately,  by  the 
cook.  Their  diameter  was  not  more  than  the 
thirtieth  part  of  an  inch.  The  day  after  finding 
them,  and  imprisoning  them  (with  a  bit  of  meat 
to  keep  them  company),  the  eggs  were  hatched, 
and  the  grubs  were  lively.  Beneath  the  microscope, 
the  nearly  transparent  skin  allowed  the  air-breath- . 
ing  and  circulatory  system  to 
appear.  The  weather  was  hot, 
and  the  meat  "  high,"  so  the 

Fig.  124. — Chrysalis  of 

maggot  fed  well,  and  proceeded       house-fly  (enlarged). 
to  the  chrysalis  stage  ;  thence  to  emerge,  in  about 
eight  or  ten  days  from  finding  the  ^gg,  to  the  fully 
developed  house-fly. 

"  Wet  Days  with  the  Microscope  "  would  not  be 
a  bad  title  for  a  book.  Nor  would  a  small  micro- 
scope be  a  bad  companion  at  the  seaside  or  in  the 
country  on  such  occasions.  It  would  be  infinitely 
better  than  flattening  your  noses  against  the 
window-panes,  and  grumbling  because  it  was 
raining. 

So  there  was  always  material  enough  for 
such  inauspicious  occasions  ;  and  the  change  of 
occupation  made  the  sunny  days,  when  collecting 
was  possible,  all  the  more  enjoyable.  Moreover, 
Jack  had  been   taught  the  rudiments   of  pinning 


100 


THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 


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HOLIDAY  RAMBLES  AND  ADVENTURES.      lOI 

down  and  dissecting,  with  needles,  such  objects  as 
worms,  caterpillars,  etc.,  and  also  what  to  look  out 
for  in  their  anatomy.  So  the  stings  of  bees, 
wasps,  etc.,  were  dissected  out,  and  mounted  on 
glass  slides  for  microscopic  examination  ;  and  then 
all  the  lookers-on  were  surprised  and  delighted  at 
the  subtle  mechanism  they  beheld. 


Fig,  126. — Lancet  of  sting  of  humble-bee. 

That  highly  domesticated  insect,  the  flea  {Piilex 
irritans),  came  in  handy,  in  lieu  of  outdoor  ento- 
mological spoil.  The  wonderful  anatomy  of  a 
common  caterpillar  (one  of  the  easiest  objects  to 
dissect)  was  carefully  made  out.  The  compound 
eyes — thousands  in  number,  all  clustered  together 
— of    a    moth,    and    the    proboscis    of  the    same 


HOLIDAY  RAMBLES  AND  ADVENTURES.      1 03 


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Fig.  129. — Lancet  of  wasp-sting. 


I04 


THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 


creature,  were  studied,  the  latter  being  really  two 
long  lips  articulated  together  into  a  sucking-tube. 
It  was  like  a  natural-history  panorama.  You 
could     vary     the    scene     as    frequently    as    you 

liked  by  putting  a  dififer- 
ent  object  under  the  micro- 
scope, or  even  examining 
a  different  part  of  the 
body  of  the  object.  The 
teeth  of  the  blowfly  and 
house  -  fly  caused  much 
surprise. 

Jack  soon  drilled  his 
brothers,  sister,  and  cousins 
into  his  service.  They  were 
told  to  bring  to  him  all 
the  "  nasty  things  "  they 
could  find.  The  lads 
brought  them  in  abund- 
ance, thinking  to  chaff  him 
and  disgust  him.  The 
tables  were  turned  when 
they  found  that  anything  and  everything  was 
welcome — grubs,  flies,  worms,  thousand-legs,  plant- 
lice,  spiders — anything. 

"  What  a  rum  chap  he  is  ! "  said  his  cousins. 


Fig.  130. — Anatomy  of  a 
caterpillar.  A,  Digestive 
apparatus  ;  B,  trachea  or 
Lreathing-tubes ;  C,  silk- 
gland;  D,  liver;  e,  salivary 
gland. 


HOLIDAY  RAMBLES  AND   ADVENTURES.      105 

But  they  all  learned   a  great  deal   about  these 
"  nasty  "  things — how  the  glow-worm  was  a  wing- 


^       5-^ 


Fig.  131.— Teeth  of  the  blowfly  (highly  magnified). 

•     less  beetle,  the  male  beetle  being  able  to  fly  ;  how 
the  plant-lice    (aphides)  were  able  to  secrete  the 


io6 


THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 


sweet  fluid  called  "honey-dew,"  of  which  ants  are 
so  fond  that  some  species  actually  keep  flocks  of 


Fig.  132. — Head  of  moth,  showing  compound  eyes,  antennae,  and 
coiled  proboscis  (magnified). 


Fig.  133- — Glow-worm,  male. 


Fig.  134. — Glow-worm, 
female. 


Fig-  135. — Lady-bird  beetle 
and  its  larva  and  pupa. 


HOLIDAY  RAMBLES  AND  ADVENTURES.      IQ-J 

aphides  as  we  do  milch   kine,  and  regularly   milk 
them !     How  the  lady-birds  (Coccinella)  are   car- 


Fig.  136. — Winged  aphis  (magnified). 


^ig-  137.— Wingless  aphis  (magnified). 

nivorous  beetles,  and  do  as  much  harm   to  these 
flocks  of  aphides  as  wolves  would  among  a  flock 


io8 


THE   PLAYTIME   NATURALIST. 


of  untended  sheep  ;  how  the  larvae  of  lady-birds 
are  as  unlike  their  parents  as  caterpillars  are  un- 
like butterflies  and  moths,  etc. 


Fig.  138. — "Thousand  legs"  [Jicbis  ferrestris 

Spiders,  again,  were  caught  and  examined. 
Their  eyes,  eight  in  number,  big  and  little,  caused 
much  admiration.  The  big  eyes  looked  like  the 
"  cat's  eyes  "  or  noble  opals  set  in  rings,  and  their 
bodies  seemed  as  covered  with  hair  as  a  leopard's. 

The  spinnerets,  by  means  of  which 
they  make  those  wonderful  stranded 
ropes  we  call  "  spider's  threads  " 
(some  of  which  are  made  up  of 
hundreds  of  twisted  lines),  were  also 
examined  under  the  microscope. 
Talking  of  spiders  reminds  one  of  their  nests  and 
homes,  as  well  as  their  webs.  Here  is  the  nest  of 
Theridiori  riparitim,  for  instance,  formed  of  pellets 
of  earth  made  to  hold   together,  and  slung  like  a 


Fig.  139.— Ditto, 
coiled  up. 


HOLIDAY  RAMBLES  AND   ADVENTURES.        I09 

hammock    from    some    twig.       But    for    exquisite 
beauty   and    admirable  suitability  for  such  extra- 


!t 


Fig.  141. — Imago  of 
Hylonomus  fraxini. 


Fig.  142. — Ditto 
(magnified). 


Fig.  143.— Larva 
of  ditto. 


Fig.  140. — Tx2ic\i  o{  Hy/onomtis 
fraxini  on  the  wood  beneath 
the  bark  of  a  tree. 


Fig.  144. — General  form  of 
main  track  or  channel. 


no 


THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 


Fig.  145.  —  Theridion  riparitwt,  male  and  female. 


Fig.  146.— Eyes 
of  spider. 


Fig.  147.  —  Tegenaria  atrica. 


HOLIDAY  RAMBLES  AND  ADVENTURES.       Ill 

ordinary     conditions,     look     at     the     water-spider 
{Argyroneta  aquaticci)^  a  spider  which  breathes  air 


Fig.  148. — Garden  spider  {Epeira  diadema). 


Fig.  149. — Spinneret  of  garden  spider  (magnified  100  times). 
a.  Tubes  ;  b,  hairs  ;  r,  sac. 

and  yet  lives  at  the  bottom  of  ponds  and  rivers, 
where  it  makes  its  closely  woven  silken  tent  like  a 


112 


THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 


^^g-  150- — Spinneret  of  gossamer  spider  (magnified  100  times). 
<2,  Tubes  ;  h^  hairs  ;  r,  sac. 


Fig.  151. — Nest  of  spider  [Theridion  riparium) 


HOLIDAY  RAMBLES  AND  ADVENTURES.      II3 

diving-bell,  and  fills  it  with  air  from   above.     You 
can  see    its  body  in   the  aquarium,  looking  as  if 


I 


a. 

1/3 

i- 


coated  with  quicksilver.     That  is  the  film  of  air  it 
purposely  entangled  up  above,  and  has  thus  con- 


114 


THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 


veniently   brought    down   to   fill   its    aquatic   tent 
with. 


Fig-  153- — Water-spider,  female. 

The  boys  soon  learned  what  a  capital  hunting- 
ground  lay  beneath  the  looseish  bark  of  any  old 


Fig.  154. — Cocoon  of  water-spider. 

tree.  One  day,  Jack's  cousin  found  a  prize — a 
singular-looking  creature,  looking  like  an  ani- 
mated   microscopic  -  scaled    feather.       Examined 


HOLIDAY  RAMBLES  AND   ADVENTURES.      II5 

with  a  two-inch  power,  the  exquisite  beauty  of  the 
object  produced  vocal  outbursts  of  admiration. 
The  surface  and  margin  of  its  body  were  adorned 


Fig-  155- — Hare-tailed  milli- 
pede [Polyxenes  lagurus), 
magnified. 


Fig.  156.  —  Hairs  or  feathers  on 
tufts  of  Polyxenes  (magnified 
250). 


Fig.  157. — Hairs  of  tail  of  Poly- 
xenes (magnified  200). 


with  scales    and    tufts   of  feathery    hairs.      When 
these  hairs  were  more  highly  magnified,  the  accom- 


Ii6 


THE   PLAYTIME   NATURALIST 


panying  illustrations   will  give    my  readers    some 
idea  of  what  the  lads  saw. 

It  ran  about  on  its  twelve  pairs  of  tiny  legs 
as  if  they  were  castors,  or  wheel  skates.  This 
peculiar  animal  is  nearly  related  to  the  Julus 
before  pictured,  and  the  centipedes  and  millipedes 
generally. 

CD 


Fig.   159, — a,  b,  Hairs  of 
Dermestes 


Fig.  158. — Larva  of  beetle  (Dermestes) 
covered  with  compound  hairs. 


Singularly  enough,  the  same  habitat,  viz.  the 
protection  of  a  tree's  bark,  is  the  dwelling-place  of 
the  grub  or  larva  of  a  peculiar  beetle,  Dermestes, 
which  assumes  a  similar  appearance  to  that  of 
feather- tail  {Polyxenes  lagurus).  It  also  is  covered 
with  fine  hairs,  some  of  which  are  feathery. 


HO  LI  DA  Y  RA  MBLES  AND   AD  VEN7  UR  ES.      1 1 7 

There  was  an  awful  rush  one  sunny,  dewy  morn- 
ing, lads  and  lasses  competing,  as  if  there  were  no 
such  thing  as  sex,  who  should  be  first  to  carry 
certain  news  and  a  certain  object  to  the  scientific 
Jack.  It  was  a  great  green  locust-like  object, 
clinging  to  the  greenest  part  of  a  green  shrub,  and 


Fig.    160. — Great  green  grasshopper  [Acridia  viridissima). 

SO  resembling  it  in  the  tint  and  tone  of  its  green- 
ness, that  none  could  doubt  its  colour  was  as  pro- 
tective as  if  it  had  resembled  a  wasp  or  hornet,  and 
had  been  mistaken  for  those  much-avoided  insects. 
It  is  a  common  insect  enough,  especially  in  the 
latter  part  of  summer  ;  but  few  people  notice  it  on 


ii8 


THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 


account  of  its  vivid  green  screening  it  from  obser- 
vation. I  have  known  this  creature  to  be  kept  as 
a  pet.  It  is  the  great  green  grasshopper  {Acridia 
viyidissima). 

One  day,  a  cousin  happened  to  lift  up  a  brick 
in  the  garden  (which  was  a  very  old  one),  and 
found  it  swarming  with  bluish-black  "  lice,"  as  he 


Fig.  1 6 1. — Under  side  of 
Achorutes  purpiirescens 
(magnified  32),  one  of 
the  spring-tails. 


Fig.  162. — Degeeria  cincta 
(magnified  25). 


called  them.  People  call  everything  lice  that 
swarms  in  abundance,  and  about  which  they  don't 
know  anything.  The  other  day  a  man  brought 
me  a  bottle  of  coloured  water  from  his  pond,  which 
"  swarmed  with  lice,"  he  said.  It  swarmed  with 
Volvox,  a   remarkable   and    almost   microscopical 


HOLIDAY  RAMBLES  AND   ADVENTURES.      II9 

form  of  water-plant,  one  of  the  most  interesting 
and  harmless  in  the  world.  But  the  man  evidently 
thought  these  "  lice  "  would  poison  his  sheep  if  they 
drank  of  the  water. 


'0?  —  - 

Fig.  163. — Podura  (without  scales),  common  under  stones  (mag.). 

It  is  high  time  men  were  not  such  fools  as  their 
ignorance  causes  them  to  be.  Like  all  others  of 
that  genus,  they  are  mercifully  protected  from 
knowing  they  belong  to  the  "  majority." 

It  so  happened  that  the  cook,  who  knew  and 
loved  the  children  well,  notwithstanding  what  they 


I20 


THE   PLAYTIME   NATURALIST. 


considered  "  her  haughty  ways  "  (when  she  would 
not  allow  them  to  eat  what  they  liked) — it  so 
happened,  I  say,  that  she  found  a  lot  of  silvery- 
looking  "  hinsecs  "  sliding  and  gliding  about  the  cold 
lamb  and  the  loaves  in  her  pantry.  They  were 
fish-moths. 


Fig.  164. — Scale  of  speckled 
Podura  (highly  magnified). 


V     '/,/,";•>  ?f'n)rf  tiff/ 

Vi  f   iVm.''"'"''''/ 

V  I't  '."""""/ 


Fig.  165. — Scale  of  black 
Podura  (magnified). 


"  Look  here,  Marster  Jack,"  she  said,  "  here's 
some  varmin  for  ye,  an'  I  wish  you'd  kill  the  lot 
for  your  microscope." 

There  was  a  tin  pepper-box  full  of  them.  I 
suspect  they  had  been  purposely  imprisoned  in 
that  abode  of  spicery  out  of  revenge.     Perhaps  the 


HOLIDAY  RAMBLES  AND   ADVENTURES.       121 

cook  thought  the  insects  would  sneeze  themselves 
to  death. 

These  insects  belong  to  the  remarkable  order 
known  as  Thysanuridae.  Most  of  this  order  have 
bodies  covered  with  scales,  not  unlike  those  on 
butterflies'  wings,  and  these  scales  are  so  prettily 


Fig.  1 66. — The  speckled  Podura  (magnified  30). 

marked  that  they  have  long  been  used  as  tests  for 
the  accurate  definition  of  good  microscopes.  They 
are  found  in  damp  places  generally — damp  cellars, 
damp  walls,  damp  pantries,  on  the  surfaces  of 
weedy  ponds,  in  greenhouses,  under  stones,  in 
empty  flower-pots,  beneath  the  bark  of  trees,  etc. 
Many  of  them  go  by  the  popular  name  of  spring- 


122 


THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 


tails,  for  when  disturbed  they  jump  Hke  fleas. 
Several  kinds  are  peculiar  to  the  seaside,  such  as 
Lipura.  The  black  Podura  are  especially  abun- 
dant in  cellars,  and  if  you  want  to  catch  them  you 


Fig.  1 68. — Smynthurns  m'ger^ 
upper  side  (magnified). 


Fig.  167. — Lepisma  saccharina 
(magnified). 

have  only  to  set  a  trap  in  the  shape  of  a  cold  stale 
potato  or  an  old  mutton-bone.  These  Podura 
have  sixteen  eyes,  set  in  two  groups,  one  on  each 
side  the  head,  looking  to  all  the  world  like  a 
cluster  of  beads.    Their  tails  double  up  under  the 


HOLIDAY  RAMBLES  AND  ADVENTURES.        12 3 

body  something  like  the  wooden  toy  frogs,  which 
have  a  spring  and  bit  of  wood  fastened  by  cobbler's 
wax,  so  as  to  give  way  and  jerk  the  toy  up  when 
the  wood  becomes  unfastened.  They  are  all  wing- 
less insects.  It  is  capital  fun  to  find  their  eggs 
and  watch  them  hatch  out. 


124  ^-^^  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

LAND    SHELLS. 

Three  weeks  after  the  holidays  commenced, 
Jack  received  the  following  letter  from  his  friend 
Willie :— 

"Bromlea,  August  i6,  1888. 

"  Dear  Jack, 

"  How  are  you  getting  on  ?  I  miss  you 
awfully.  What  jolly  times  we  all  had  the  last  term  ! 
I  was  down  in  the  dumps  when  I  got  home,  and 
didn't  know  what  to  do.  My  dear  old  dad  saw 
what  was  up,  and  persuaded  me  to  go  out  for 
drives  with  him  when  he  visited  his  country 
patients.  He  is  the  dearest,  gentlest,  old  dad  in 
the  whole  world,  and  he  soon  got  out  of  me  what 
you  and  I  had  been  up  to — all  about  our  rambles 
and  collections,  and  so  on.  It  quite  did  me  good 
to  tell  him  ;  he  seemed  so  interested,  and  it  was 
very  pleasant  to  go  over  the  old  ground  again. 

"As  you  know    dad  is  awfully  fond  of  natural 


LAND    SHELLS.  1 25 

history.  I  always  knew  that,  but  I  never  found 
out,  before  these  drives  of  ours,  what  a  real  blessing 
it  had  been  to  him  during  his  lonely  country  drives 
— how  he  observed  the  birds  and  their  songs,  the 
insects,  the  flowers,  and  a  thousand  objects  besides. 
As  we  drove  along,  he  was  full  of  these  things, 
and  the  green  country  lanes  seemed  like  an  open 
book  to  him — a  book  he  never  got  tired  of 
reading. 

"  He  has  been  showing  me  how  to  work  the 
microscope,  and  how  to  mount  specimens  for  ex- 
amination. It  isn't  half  so  difficult  as  I  used  to 
think.  Dad  was  quite  pleased  when  he  saw  I  took 
a  real  interest  in  the  business.  I  always  liked  to 
potter  about  these  things,  as  you  know  ;  but  now, 
somehow,  I  feel  more  serious  about  it. 

" '  I  should  like  to  go  in  for  something  special 
these  holidays,'  I  said  to  him.  '  What  should  I 
take  up  }  Something  special  to  collect  and  arrange, 
and  get  to  know  about — something  other  than 
butterflies  and  moths,  you  know,'  said  I. 

** '  Very  v/ell,'  he  replied  ;  '  begin  collecting  snail- 
shells.' 

" '  Snail-shells  ! '  said  I,  somewhat  disgusted — for 
I  hate  snails  and  slugs. 

"  '  Why  not  t     You  were  very  fond  of  collecting 


126  THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 

sea-shells  when  we  went  to  the  seaside  last  year ; 
why  not  collect  land-shells,  and  fresh-water  shells 
too,  if  you  get  a  chance  ?  You  have  no  idea  how 
interesting  it  is.' 

" '  But  there  are  not  many  sorts  to  collect,'  said  I. 
'  It  won't  take  me  more  than  a  day  or  two  to  get 
all  the  kinds  there  is  about  here.' 

"'Oh,  won't  it?'  said  he.  'Just  you  try.  You 
will  be  very  surprised  to  find  what  a  number  there 
are,  and  how  they  want  looking  for.' 

"  Well,  you  know,  that  kind  of  started  me. 
Still,  somehow  snail-shells  seemed  rather  a  mean 
kind  of  things  to  collect.  They  are  such  slow- 
coaches, and  therefore  I  fancied  I  should  have  to 
hunt  them  slowly. 

"  I  thought  it  over  a  day  or  two,  and  old  dad 
never  let  the  subject  drop,  but  referred  to  it  every 
now  and  then  as  we  drove  along.  Then  I  got  to 
know  from  him  what  interesting  things  both  land 
and  fresh-water  snails  are — how  ancient  are  their 
shapes  and  habits  ;  how  they  have  been  living  in 
the  world  for  millions  of  years,  sometimes  they  had 
actually  formed  marble  by  their  accumulated  shells, 
as  the  well-known  Sussex  marble  and  Purbeck 
marble  ;  and  how,  in  the  hollow  fossilized  tree- 
trunks    of  gigantic    club-mosses    called   Sigillaria, 


LAND    SHELLS.  1 27 

which  grew  when  coal  was  forming,  there  had  been 
found  land-shells  almost  exactly  like  the  little 
delicate  Pupas  we  find  in  tlie  moss  of  the  hedge- 
bank.  I  had  no  idea  before  that  snails  had  such 
an  ancient  history. 

"  Then  the  dad  told  me  how  I  should  find  dif- 
ferent species  in  different  habitats.  He  explained 
that  the  last  word  was  much  used  by  naturalists,  as 
expressing  the  natural  conditions  which  surrounded 
any  living  object.  He  said  I  should  find  some 
species  of  land-snails  living  under  one  set  of  con- 
dition-s,  and  another  species  under  quite  a  different 
set.  Perhaps,  he  hinted,  it  had  been  these  different 
circumstances  surrounding  them  which  had  helped 
to  give  different  species  their  leading  characters. 
He  told  me  I  should  find  some  which  liked  limey 
soils  and  rocks,  and  others  which  did  not ;  some 
which  loved  to  live  in  damp  places,  and  others  in 
dry  ;  some  of  them  nearly  as  big  as  my  fist,  and 
others  not  much  bigger  than  a  pin's  head. 

"  Well,  I  won't  bore  you  any  further ;  but  the 
upshot  is,  I  am  now  collecting  snail-shells,  and 
jolly  fun  it  is  too,  I  can  tell  you.  Dad  laughs  a 
quiet  laugh  sometimes,  now  that  he  sees  I  am  so 
dead  on  snails.  I  don't  mind,  for  if  it  hadn't  been 
for  him,  I  should  have  had  the  same  duffing  notions 


128 


THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST 


about  them  now  I  had  when  he  set  me  to  work. 
Good-bye.     Let's  know  what  you  are  up  to. 

"  Willie." 


A  good  many  letters  passed  between  the  lads, 
notwithstanding  schoolboys  are  not  good  corre- 
spondents— except    when    they   want    something. 


Fig.  i6g.—  Helix po/natia.         Fig.  170. — Ditto,  mouth  view 

But  1  need  not  repeat  them,  nor  give  them^  in  full 
Suffice  it  that  Willie  became  a  keen  hunter  of 
land-shells  before  the  holidays  were  over,  and 
managed  to  make  a  capital  collection,  including 
some  rare  ones.  The  long  journeys  his  father  was 
obliged  to  make  enabled  Willie,  whilst  waiting  for 
him,  to  hunt  in  new  and  varied  localities.  Of 
course,  the  big  kinds,  such  as  Helix  aspersa,  and 
the  common  garden  and  wood  snails  {Helix  Jior- 


LAND  SHELLS. 


129 


tensis  and  H.  nenwralis)  were  soon  sought  and 
found.  The  young  hunter  was  perfectly  surprised 
at  the  exquisite  colours 
and  variation  of  colour- 
tints  the  two  latter  species 
possessed. 

His  father  showed  him 
how  and  where  to  look 
for  the  rarer  and  smaller 

1  .    J  ,1-  ,  Fia:.  171. — Helix  as persa. 

kmds — pulhng  up  plants 

by  the  roots  and  shaking  them  ;  turning  over  the 

damp,  rotting  leaves  in  the  wood  ;  grubbing  beneath 


Fig.  172. — Helix  eTicetorum. 

clumps   of  ferns   and  wood-rushes  for  the  smaller 
Helices,  pupa;,  etc. ;  closely  examining  the  trunks 


Fig.  173. — Helix  ne?noralis. 

of  trees  for  Ciausilia,  Bulimus,   and  special  kinds 
of  Helix.     It  was  in  this  way  he   found  Buiimiis 


I30 


THE  PLAYTIME   NATURALIST. 


obsciiriis,  whose  shell  was  almost  entirely  obscured 
by  the  dirt  the  cautious  creature  had  covered  itself 


Fig.  174. — Helix  arhistoru in. 

with,  to  escape  detection.    Beneath  the  rotting  bark 
of  trees,  he  taught  him  to  look  for  and  find  Balea  ; 

underneath  stones,  Heli- 
cella  ;  along  the  sand- 
drives  of  the  coast  (and 
inland  where  the  soil 
Fig.  IJS.— Helix  hortensis.  ^^^g  limey),  Helix  cape- 
rata,  Buliimis  acuttis,  etc. 

Willie  also  learned  that  the  best  time  for  collect- 
ing land-shells  is  the  autumn,  when  they  are  fully 
grown,  and  are  most  beautifully  marked.     Those 


Fig.  176. — Helix  virgata. 

collected   in    spring   are    usually  winter-worn    and 
weathered  specimens. 

This  newly  found    fad    of   land-shell    collecting 


LAND  SHELLS. 


131 


was  a  capital  excuse  for  Willie  (who  was  an  affec- 
tionate lad,  and  couldn't  bear  to  be  long  without 


Fig.  177. — Helix  cantiajia. 

hearing    or    seeing    anybody   he    liked)    to   write 
to    his    "  professor,"    asking    him    how  he  was   to 


Fig.  178. — Helix  lapicidia. 

prepare   the  specimens   he  had    captured    for    the 
cabinet. 

The   professor  was  in  Switzerland  at  the  time, 


Fig.  179. — Helix  caperata. 


'^m:>imi. 


Fig.  180. — Helix  hispida. 


Fig.  i8r. — Helix  rotimdata.  Fig.  182. — Helix  pulchella. 

and   Willie's   letter  reached   him  there.     Notwith- 
standing the  bother  of  writing  letters  when  one  is 


132  THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST 

away   from    home,  and   supposed    to   be  enjoying 
one's  self,  the  professor  answered  WilHe's  letter  by 


Fig.  183. — Helix  rufcscens.  Fig.  184. — Helix  lamellata. 

the  same  day's  post.     Truth  to  tell,  he   regarded 
Willie  and  Jack  as  intellectual  children  of  his  own. 


Fig.  185. — Helix  Fig.  186. — Helix  Carthiisiana. 

pigmcea. 

He  had  been  the  chief  means  of  opening  their  minds 
to  the  abounding  works  of  the  Great  Father ;  there- 
fore the  lads  were  in  a  sense  his  own 
intellectual  progeny.  It  is  this  in- 
o       TT  y    tellectual  affiliation  which  knits  the 

Fig.  187. — Hehx 

aculeata.  ^-j-yg  master  and  the  true  student  so 
closely  together. 

So,  partly  for  the  sake  of  writing  to  Willie,  and 
chiefly  to  help  him,  he  wrote  to  him  as  follows  : — 

"  When  you  collect  your  living  specimens,  keep 
them  a  few  days.  Then  remove  the  animals  from 
the  houses  (shells)  they  have  made.  At  first  this 
appears  a  nasty  sort  of  a  job.  But  all  real  practical 
natural  history,  dissecting,  etc.,  seems  nasty  at  first. 


LAND   SHELLS.  1 33 

I  dare  say  the  first  man  who  ate  an  oyster  was 
thought  a  '  nasty  man '  by  those  who  looked  on, 
being  too  timid  to  attempt  the  task  themselves. 
I  am  very  sure  the  English  people  would  think 
those  dwelling  in  the  south  of  France  '  nasty,'  if 
they  were  to  see  the  great  heaps  of  the  Roman 
snail  {Helix  pomatid) — a  British  species,  by  the 
way,  although  probably  introduced  by  the  Romans, 
who  were  fond  of  snails — and  our  commoner 
English  large  snail  {Helix  aspersa)  offered  for  sale 
in  the  fish-markets,  and  eagerly  bought.  If  they 
tasted  the  pates  made  of  them,  however — that  is, 
if  they  didn't  know  what  they  were  eating — they 
would  give  up  the  silly  charge  of 'nastiness  '  about 
anything  a  body  did  not  happen  to  like. 

'*  Well,  the  first  thing  you've  got  to  do  is  to 
separate  the  living  snail  from  its  house.  Remember 
that  a  snail-shell  is  as  much  a  part  of  a  living 
mollusc  as  a  lobster's  crust,  or  as  your  own  bones 
are  part  of  your  own  living  self. 

"  When  you  kill  the  snail  in  its  shell,  you  sever 
the  connection  between  the  two.  The  step  is 
to  remove  the  animals,  and  this  may  not  seem  a 
pleasant  job.  Kill  them  by  plunging  in  boiling 
water,  when  the  muscular  connection  with  their 
shells  will   be  severed.       Then   the    body  can    be 


134  ^-^-^  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 

easily  taken   out  with  a  pin,  exactly  like  picking 
periwinkles. 

"With  regard  to  the  smaller  kinds,  whose  shells 
may  not  have  mouths  wide  enough  to  admit  even 
a  pin  for  picking  purposes — indeed,  such  shells 
as  Clausilia,  Bulimus,  Helicella,  etc.,  are  too  little 
to  allow  of  much  handling  with  a  pin,  even  if  the 
animal  had  not  drawn  itself  up  into  the  extreme 
corner  of  the  shell  the  moment  it  scented  danger 
— the  best  thing  to  do  with  them  is  to  let  their 
little  bodies  dry  up  in  their  shells. 

"  When  you  have  picked  out  the  animals  from 
the  larger  shells,  wash  out  well  with  warm  water, 
and  then  place  them  before  a  fire  to  dry.  Don't 
rub  them,  but  clean  off  any  dirt  that  may  have 
remained  with  a  dry  camel's-hair  pencil.  Some 
of  the  small  snails  have  their  shells  covered  with 
hairs,  or  short  bristles,  and  you  must  mind  not  to 
remove  them." 

Willie's  father  delighted  to  induct  his  lad  into 
the  fragments  of  natural-science  lore  he  himself 
once  possessed — "  broken  lights  "  of  other  days, 
when  both  money  and  leisure  were  more  abundant, 
and  before  the  household  became  so  thronged  with 
curly-haired  tyrants. 

Alas !    the   theory   of    evolution,    microscopical 


LAND  SHELLS. 


135 


dissection,  embryology,  phylogen}-,  and  a  host  of 
other  deeply  interesting  and  still  more  deeply 
complicated  subjects  had  grown  up  almost  uncon- 
sciously while  the  village  doctor  had  been  toiling 
for  the  crickets  on  his  hearth.  Nevertheless,  not 
a  little  (and  that  little  was  good)  remained  of  the 
earnest  days  of  his  younger  manhood. 

A  man  possessed  of  a  son  gets  a  double  chance 
out  of  life,  particularly  if  the  boy  inherits  his 
father's  tastes.  Then 
he  lives  again,  renews 
his  youth,  enters  the 
glorious  lists  of  young 
manhood  a  second 
time — rejoices  when 
his  son  succeeds, 
mourns  when  his  son 
fails.  You  cannot  do  that  with  your  daughters, 
although  they  are  "  ever  so  much  nicer ! " 

So  when  Willie  was  pulling  the  snails  out  of  their 
shells  with  a  pin,  his  father  showed  him  there  were 
several  other  things  he  might  do  at  the  same  time. 
Thus,  every  snail  has  a  more  or  less  special  kind 
of  jaw^  used  for  feeding  purposes.  Then  they  also 
possess  odontopJiores^  or  tooth-bearing  straps,  all 
thickly   set  over  with  silicious  teeth,  which  gleam 


Fig.  188. — Jaws  of  Helix  nemoralis 
(magnified). 


136 


THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 


and  glisten  like  precious  stones  when  examined 
by  polarized,  or  partly  decomposed,  light.  The 
true  teeth  of  snails,  and  indeed  of  all  univalve 
mollusca,  are  therefore  not  in  the  mouth.  But  the 
jaws  of  snails  are,  and  their  duty  is  to  assist  the 
odontophore  by  triturating  the  food.  These  jaws, 
and  the  number  of  the  ridges  on  them,  are  now 
being  carefully  studied.     They  are  not  limey,  but 

cJdtinoiis  —  that  is, 
formed  of  a  sub- 
stance like  horn,  or 
one's  own  finger-nail. 
Willie  and  his 
father,   therefore. 

Fig.  189.-A  second  form  of  ditto.       ^^^^^  ^   ^^^  delight 

to  snail-shell  collecting.  They  referred  to  a  chapter 
on  the  subject  in  a  natural  history  magazine,  which 
the  latter  had  carefully  taken  in  from  its  beginning, 
and  to  whose  blue-cloth  bound  volumes  he  always 
turned  when  in  a  difficulty — I  mean  Hardwickes 
Science-Gossip. 

The  reason  was  that  Willie  wanted  to  send  to 
Jack  full  details  of  how  to  proceed  in  dissecting  land 
and  fresh-water  snails  forthesake  of  their  jaws  and 
odontophores.  So  he  copied  the  following  paragraph 
from  a  page  his  father  had  turned  down  for  him  : — 


LAND  SHELLS. 


137 


"  For  the  method  of  dissecting  odontophores, 
jaws,  etc.,  of  molluscs  (which  should  be  done  under 
water,  in  a  white  shallow  dish),  almost  any  book 
on  the  microscope  will  give  you  full  information. 
I  advise  the  simple  method  of  dissecting  the 
animal  with  forceps  and  needle,  to  the  common 
one  resorted  to  by  many  conchologists  of  boiling 
the  animal  if  small,  or  parts  if  large,  in  sodic 
or  potassic  hydrates,  on  purpose  to  procure  the 
jaw  or  lingual  ribbons.  The  attachments  are  often 
appended,  and  the  object  has  a  more  natural 
appearance  under  the 
microscope.  The  jaws 
of  the  small  Helix  vir- 
gata  can  be  seen  with 
the  naked  eye  in  the 
dissecting  -  trough,  and 
the  smallest  species  may 
be  crushed  and  washed  in  the  sunken  cell  of  a 
micro-slip,  using  a  two-inch  objective  for  detection. 

"As  the  jaws  are  found,  place  the  different 
kinds  in  watch-glasses  or  small  colour-saucers, 
until  they  are  so  dry  that  they  can  be  transferred 
to  small  pill-boxes  without  any  risk  of  their  sticking 
to  the  bottoms  or  sides,  and  so  of  carrying  foreign 
matter.      There   they   are   dust-free,   and   can   be 


Fig.  190. — A  third  form  of  ditto. 


138  THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 

stored  for  any  length  of  time.  On  the  Hd  of  each 
pill-box  should  be  written  such  information  as 
would  be  required  for  a  micro-label  slide.  This 
method  of  preparation  is  not  applicable  to  odonto- 
phores.  In  a  day  or  two  the  jaws  will  have  become 
thoroughly  dry.  After  soaking  in  turpentine,  they 
may  be  mounted  on  micro-slips  in  any  soluble 
form  of  Canada  balsam,  and  without  a  cell.  A 
wire-clip  will  hold  in  position  for  a  few  days, 
until  there  is  a  little  '  set '  in  the  medium.  As 
evaporation  takes  place,  fill  up  with  fresh  balsam. 
When  dry,  *  ring '  the  slides  twice  with  a  thick 
solution  of  dammar  in  benzole,  and  varnish.  Any 
number  of  jaws  of  molluscs,  agreeing  in  character 
or  shell-colours,  may  easily  be  mounted  on  one 
slip  ;  three  or  more  are  easily  treated,  and,  with 
a  little  care  in  balancing  the  clip  directly  over  the 
specimens,  it  will  be  found  practicable  to  mount 
one  or  two  jaws  without  a  cell.  Canada  balsam  is 
much  better  for  this  work  than  glycerine  or  similar 
fluids.  It  is  more  easily  manipulated,  requires  no 
extra  care  in  fastening  up,  and  is  handy  for 
polariscope  work." 

Willie's  father  pointed  out  the  beginnings  of  the 
doctrine  of  "natural  selection,"  as  proved  even  by 
snails'  jaws.    Thus  the  ridges  or  cross-bars  of  Helix 


LAND  SHELLS. 


"^19 


nemoralis  vary  from  two  to  four  in  one  locality. 
In  another  (on  the  limestone),  they  range  in 
number  up  to  seven  ridges  or  cross-bars.  It  is  the 
same  with  the  garden    snail   and    other   common 


Fig.  191. — Successive  stages  in  the  development  of  a  fresh-water 

snail  {Lit7incea  pereger). 

species — the  ridges  in  the  jaws  vary  in  number 
with  the  kind  of  vegetable  diet  thev  affect ;  and 
this,  of  course,  is  determined  chiefly  by  the 
characters  of  the  subsoils  and  geology  generally. 


I40  THE   PLAYTIME   NATURALIST. 

August  happened  to  be  rather  a  dull  month 
that  year.  It  was  cloudy  when  it  was  not  rainy, 
and  the  days  seemed  to  draw  in  on  purpose  to 
make  the  evenings  longer.  So  the  microscope  be- 
came an  evening  toy,  as  well  as  a  scientific  instru- 
ment. Then  Willie  learned  how  the  eggs  of  snails, 
especially  the  fresh-water  kinds,  such  as  Limnaea 
and  Paludina,  hatched  out  larvae  at  first  resembling 
infusorial  animalcules  in  their  possession  of  cilia, 
or  eyelash-like  hairs  arranged  around  the  mouth  ; 
how  they  regularly  rotated  within  their  cells  until 
they  were  set  free  to  move  through  the  water  by 
the  same  means  ;  and  how  very  possibly  (only  it 
was  for  the  young  and  rising  generation  of  natura- 
lists to  determine  the  fact)  the  embryos  of  land- 
snails  did  the  same  thing  within  their  eggshells, 
only  more  expeditiously,  being  pinched  for  time, 
and  therefore  obliged  to  make  overtime  within 
their  eggs — to  accelerate  their  larval  stages,  in  short. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

"THEY   GO   A-FISHING." 

"  I  GO  a-fishing,"  said  St.  Peter,  when  one  of  the 
other  disciples  wanted  to  know  what  he  was  about  to 
do  for  the  next  twenty-four  hours.  Unfortunately, 
it  is  your  idle  friends,  as  a  rule,  who  want  to  know 
how  you  mean  to  spend  the  day.  They  have  not 
the  slightest  idea  how  they  are  going  to  spend  it 
themselves  ;  so,  at  any  rate,  there  is  some  chance 
of  their  getting  a  little  interest  out  of  life  by  know- 
ing beforehand  how  you  mean  to  spend  yours. 
If  they  cannot  join  you  in  body  or  spirit,  at  any 
rate  the  derived  knowledge  leaves  them  at  liberty 
to  criticize  you.  And  that  is  all  that  very  weak 
people  can  do. 

Imagine  Jack's  delight  (which  was  contagious, 
especially  among  the  girls,  to  whom  Jack  had  laid 
bare  his  heart's  idol)  when  one  evening,  just  before 
supper,  a  limping  lad,  dressed  in  the  garb  of  the 
E.  T.,  rang  the  front-door  bell,  and  looked  as  weary 


142  THE  PLAYTIME   NATURALIST. 

as  he  could,  for  he  knew  that  would  secure  a 
supper.  He  had  been  to  the  hall  with  telegrams 
before ! 

It  was  a  telegram  for  Master  Jack.  We  apply 
that  term  to  boys  now,  but  it  was  a  grand  name 
given  to  valiant  fighting-men  in  the  days  of  old 
Border  warfare. 

Master  Jack  didn't  mind  the  mild  chaff  of  those 
around  him,  who  would  have  given  their  only  half- 
crown  to  have  got  a  telegram  all  to  themselves. 
He  ripped  it  open  with  a  knife  deliberately,  as  if 
he  had  been  in  the  habit  of  receiving  telegrams 
until  he  was  bored  with  them. 

Then  he  passed  it  quietly  to  his  sister,  who 
flushed  as  she  read  it,  announcing  that  Willie 
would  be  with  the  lively  party  by  noon  the  day 
following. 

Though  Jack  passed  the  telegram  quietly,  he 
was  pleased  beyond  measure.  Between  him  and 
Willie  there  had  been  established  the  strongest 
brotherhood  in  the  world,  infinitely  stronger  than 
the  brotherhood  of  bodies — the  fraternity  oi  soids. 

However,  I  am  not  a  novelist,  or  I  should 
devote  a  chapter  to  their  meeting,  and  describe 
how  Willie  was  flurried  on  being  introduced  to 
Jack's    sister,  and    how    Jack's    sister    blushed    as 


''THEY   GO  A-FlSHlNOr  143 

red  as  a  peony,  and  hated  Willie  all  the  more 
because  she  knew  she  had  done  so,  and  couldn't 
help  it 

So  I  leave  the  lads  alone,  to  compare  delightful 
notes,  and  still  more  delightful  experiences.  All  I 
have  to  do  is  to  be  the  humble  chronicler  of  their 
next  and  newest  set  of  natural-history  adventures. 

They  determined  not  to  collect  butterflies,  moths, 
bees,  wasps,  dipterous  flies  (unless,  of  course,  they 
saw  some  "jolly  rare  ones"),  beetles,  snails,  slugs, 
etc.     Willie  observed,  "  I  say,  let's  go  dredging  !  " 

Now,  that  was  a  capital  thought ;  none  of  them 
had  ever  thought  of  dredging.  I  doubt  whether 
most  of  them  knew  what  it  meant.  But  they 
applauded  the  idea — for  that  is  the  best  way  of 
not  being  thought  ignorant  of  it. 

It  was  ultimately  deemed  best,  however,  to  hunt 
for  water-insects,  and  odds  and  ends  of  aquatic  life" 
It  is  remarkable  what  a  number  of  creatures  be- 
longing to  widely  different  orders  agree  in  possess- 
ing a  common  habitat.  Depend  upon  it,  either  a 
great  many  changes  have  taken  place  in  water- 
insects  since  they  first  appeared  on  the  earth,  or 
else  in  the  larger  numbers  which  swarm  the 
atmosphere.  There  is  reason  to  believe  that,  ages 
ago,    some    of  the  earliest    forms    of  insects  were 


144 


THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 


aquatic ;  and  it  may  be  that  the  Hving  species 
inhabiting  fresh  waters  all  over  the  world  are  still 
maintaining  their  ancestral  habits.  Some  species, 
however,  such  as  the  water-beetles,  must  certainly 
have  acquired  the  habit  of  being  able  to  live  in 
water,  for  their  practice  is  so  different  to  the  rest 
of  their  tribe. 

The  surface  of  the   ponds  and  tarns  visited  by 
Jack,   Willie,  and   the   other  young   friends,  where 


Fig.  192. — Water-beetles  {Dytiscus  margifialis),  male  and  female. 

not  covered  over  by  pond-weed,  duck-weed,  and 
frog-bit,  looked  smooth  and  dark.  The  open 
spaces  were  so  many  skating-rinks  to  the  whirli- 
gig beetles,  which  glided  gracefully  about  ;  and 
although  it  looked  as  if  some  of  them  must  come 
into  collision,  they  never  did.  They  beat  skaters 
in  that  respect.     It  seems  a  strange  whim  for  these 


''THEY  GO  A-FISHING:'  1 45 

glassy  little  water-beetles  to  do  nothing  all  day 
but  waltz  about  in  this  ridiculous  fashion.  What 
do  they  do  it  for  ?  But  perhaps  they  would  ask  a 
similar  question  of  ourselves,  if  they  saw  a  hundred 
men  and  women  taking  a  delight  in  skating  all 
day. 

Then  there  were  the  huge  beetles  Dytisciis  inargi- 
nalis  and  Hydrophilits  piceus ;  the  former,  both  in 
its  larval  and  adult  stages,  one  of  the  most  vora- 
cious of  creatures,  as  all  who  have  kept  fresh-water 


Fig.  193. — Larva  of  Dytiscus  7narginalis. 

aquaria  know.  The  full-grown  beetle  will  attack 
small  fish,  frogs,  newts,  with  impunity.  Nor  is  the 
larva  much  less  to  be  dreaded  for  its  voracious 
appetite.  They  are  to  tadpoles  what  the  wolf  is  to 
a  flock  of  young  lambs. 

The  peculiar  way  in  which  the  Dytiscus  manages 
to  breathe  the  air  dissolved  in  water  is  best  seen 
by  examining  the  air-apertures,  or  spiracles,  which 
are  both  beautiful  and  instructive  objects  when 
mounted.     The    tracheal  or   breathing   system    is 


146 


THE   FLA  y TIME  NATURALIST. 


very    complicated.     You    get    a    dead    beetle    and 
make    a    careful    incision     down    the    back    with 


Fig.  194. — Terminal  spiracle  of  Dytiscus. 


Fig.  195.  —  Parasite  of  Dytiscus. 


scissors  ;  then  soak  the  entire  object  well  in  acetic 
acid,  and    use   the   forceps   to  detach  the   trachea, 


THEY  GO  A-FISHING. 


H7 


which  he  on  either  side  the  body,  and  communicate 
with  the  air  by  means  of  the  gilled  spiracles. 

But,  greedy  as  the  Dytiscus  is,  it  is  the  prey  of 
a  parasite,  which  may  usually  be  found  deeply 
imbedded  in  the  skin  near  the  spiracles,  as  you 
are  dissecting. 


Fig.  196. — Cocoon  of  Hydrophilus. 

The  Hydrophilus  is  almost  as  voracious  as  its 
neighbour  and  competitor.  The  boys  found  a 
female  in  the  act  of  depositing  its  eggs  in  the  nest. 
They  noticed  how  the  nest  was  closed  up  until  it 
'resembled  a  glass  retort.  There  the  eggs  were 
safe  and  sound,  and  there  they  hatched  out  into 
greedy  larva  not  unlike  those  of  Dytiscus. 

Another  group  of  common  aquatic  insects  allied 


148 


THE  PLAYTIME   NATURALIST 


to  the  water-scorpions  (Nepa)  were  discovered — 
Rmiatra  linearis — and  transferred  to  the  wide- 
mouthed  pickle-jars  for  further  observation.  It 
was  amusing  to  see  them  take  their  prey,  assuming 
a  position  not  unhke  that  of  the  praying  mantis. 
Even  more  interesting  was  the  discovery  of  the 
eggs  of  this  singular  creature,  found   arranged   in 


N 


Fig.  197.  — Another  water-beetle  {Hydrophilus  picetis),  in  the 
act  of  depositing  its  eggs. 

a  row,  penetrating  the  leaf  of  a  frog-bit  (Hydro- 
charis),  each  Ggg  having  a  couple  of  antennae- 
like  processes  to  prevent  its  slipping  through.  Out 
of  these  funny  eggs  young  Ranatrse  were  hatched, 
and  wonderful  skeleton-like  things  they  looked. 


''THEY  GO  A-FISHINCr 


149 


The  bottoms  of  the  ponds  and  streams  visited 
during  the  long  sunny  mornings  were  seen 
occupied    by  slowly   moving  objects,  which,  how- 


Fig.  198. — Full-grown  Ranatra 
linearis  (magnified). 


Fig.  199. — Ranatra  linearis  in 
the  act  ot  catching  its  prey. 


ever,  were  very  erratic  in  their  movements.  The 
greater  number  of  them  looked  like  animated 
sticks ;   some   were   clusters  of  minute  Planorbids 


ISO 


THE   PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 


and  other  fresh-water  shells.  An  examination 
showed  them  to  be  different  species  of  caddis- 
worms,  the  aquatic  larva   of  the  Ephemeridse,  or 


Fig.  200. — Eggs  of  Ranatra  deposited  on  leaf  of  frog-bit 

(Hydrocharis). 

may-flies.     It  appears  very  singular  that   numbers 
of   air-breathing  and    winged   insects   should   pass 


Fig.  201. — Single  eggs  and 
young  of  Ranatra. 


Fig.  202. — Larva  of  Ephemera, 
or  caddis-worm  fly. 

their  earliest  stages  in   the  water.     The  breathing- 
organs  of  the  larva  of  Ephemera  are  very  beautiful 


"  THEY  GO   A-FISHINCr 


151 


when  seen  under  the  microscope  ;  and  the  in- 
genious way  in  which  these  aquatic  breathers  are 
converted  into  an  air-breathing  apparatus  when 
the  creature  leaves  the  water  for  good,  is  more  or 


Fig.  203.  —  Case  of  caddis- worm 
{Phryganea  grandis). 


Fig.  204.  — Shell-case  of 
Livi  neph  ihcs  Jiavicorn  is. 


less  the  same  as  marks  the  transformation  of  the 
dragon-flies,  gnats,  etc.  The  transformation  of  a 
gnat's  ^g^  into  a  free-swimming  larva,  and  after- 
wards into  a  winged  fly,  is  well  known  to  natu- 
ralists.    You  cannot  wonder  that  may-flies,  gnats, 


Fig.  205. — Fresh-water  shrimp  {Gammarus  ptdex).     b.  Antennas 

of  ditto  (magnified). 

and  dragon-flies  haunt  the  streams,  ponds,  and 
dykes,  even  when  they  have  become  winged.  It  is 
in  the  water  rather  than  in  the  atmosphere  that 
the    greater  part  of    their    lives  is   passed.      One 


152 


THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 


species  of  insect  actually  never  leaves  the  water, 
even  when  it  has  acquired  wings,  but  uses  them  as 
swimming-organs. 

Then,  again,  in  most  ponds  and  natural  streams 
you  find  creatures  belonging  to  a  widely  sepa- 
rate   division  —  the    Crustacea.     Moreover,    some 


Fig.  206. 


Aselhis  aqtioticzis. 


of  these  fresh-water  forms  are  nearly  allied  to 
those  now  living  in  the  sea,  such  as  the  fresh- 
water shrimp.  Others  are  not  distantly  related  to 
the  Trilobites  which  swarmed  in  the  seas  of  the 
Silurian  period,  many  millions  of  years  ago,  such 
as  Aselhis  aquatiaiSy  found  in  most  boggy  tarns. 

Then  there  are  worms,  some  of  which  may  also 
be  derived  from  ancestors  that  formerly  lived  in  the 


THEY  GO  A-FJSHINCr 


153 


sea.  Of  course  the  lads  looked  out  for  and  caught 
specimens  of  the  curious  hair-worm  {Gordhis 
aqiiatiais)  ;  what  boys  would  not  ?  For  is  it  not 
an  article  of  belief  among  schoolboys  that  these 
hair-worms  are  produced  by  taking  a  long  hair 
from  a  horse's  tail,  and  placing  it  in  a  saucer  to 
stand  in  the  sun  ?  Boys  believe  so,  and  their  grown- 
up ancestors  also  believed  it,  without  thinking 
they  were  committing  themselves  to  the  atheistic 


Fig.  207. — Hair-worm. 


Fig.  208. — End  of  hair-worm. 


doctrine  of  spontaneous  generation.  Naturalists, 
however,  know  that  this  worm  undergoes  its  first 
changes  in  the  bodies  of  insects,  chiefly  beetles, 
and  that  it  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  horse  cr 
any  other  animal's  hairs,  except  its  marvellous 
resemblance  to  them.  If  you  were  to  behold 
one  of  these  hair-worms,  when  imprisoned  in  the 
zoophyte-trough,  discharging  its  eggs,  you  would 
see  a  wonderful  sight.     They  are  poured  forth  in 


154 


THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST 


thousands,  until  one  is  bewildered  by  a  new  sense 
of  abundance. 

Many  of    the    worms    which    permanently   live 


rt    2    rt    cs 


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fe 

in  fresh  water  possess  the  usual  transparency 
characteristic  of  nearly  all  the  lowly  organized 
aquatic  animals,  so  that  you  can  plainly  see  the 


(( 


THEY  GO  A- fishing:' 


155 


internal  organs.  One  of  the  most  beautiful  and 
instructive  in  this  respect  is  the  not  uncommon 
Corethra  pltwiiformis.  Some  of  these  worms  so 
nearly  resemble  the  larvae  of  aquatic  insects,  or 
rather,  the  latter  appear  so  often  like  the  former 
that  the  young  naturalist 
is  frequently  bewildered  in 
distinguishing  one  from  the 
other. 

Corethra  is  a  splendid 
study,  on  account  of  its 
hyalinity — its  glass-like  tis- 
sues. You  can  see  its  com- 
pound eyes,  air-cells,  gizzard, 
stomach,  intestinal  arrange- 
ment, and  branchial  or 
breathing  arrangements,  al- 
most as  easily  as  if  you 
were  looking  through  a  win- 
dow at  the  contents  of  a  shop  Fig.  210.— Egg-bag  of  com- 
mon gnat  {Tipida  plumi- 
— where,  of  course,  all  the  cornis),  natural  size  and  mag- 
■I       ,    .  1  •  J  nitied. 

best  thmgs  are  arranged. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  set  of  captures  and 

observations  made  were  on  the  common  gnat,  which, 

as  everybody  knows,  deposits   its   eggs   in  water. 

You  can  get  any  quantity  of  them  in  any  exposed 

rain-water  tub. 
8 


156 


THE  PLAYTIME   NATURALIST 


The  female  gnat  lays  her  eggs  early  in  August, 
as  a  sausage-shaped  bag  of  nearly  colourless  jelly, 


Fig.  211.— Egg,  first  day. 


Fig.  212. — Egg,  five  hours  later. 


Fig.  213. — Egg,  second  day. 


Fig.  214. — Egg,  five  days  old. 

varying  from  a  quarter  of  an  inch  to  one  inch  in 
length,  beneath  the  surface  of  still  water.    The  ^%g 


THEY  GO  A- FISHINGS 


157 


presents  in  profile  a  convex  upper  and  a  flattened 
lower  surface  (these  terms,  upper  and  lower,  are 
applied  simply  for  convenience).  Looking  down 
upon    it,    the   appearance   is   oval.      The   shell   is 


Fig.  215. — Diagrammatic  figure  of  young  larva. 

somewhat  elastic,  and  is  very  transparent  and 
structureless,  so  that  the  development  of  the 
embryo    may  be  easily  observed.      The   mass  of 


Fig.  216. — The  nymph. 

eggs  have  a  sucking-disk  at  one  end  to  fix 
them  by.  These  eggs  can  be  followed  through 
every  stage  of  their  hatching  ;  and,  thanks  to  the 
great  transparency  of  the  egg-shell,  or  membrane, 
we    can  witness    the    development   of    the    larva 


158 


THE  PLAYTIME   NATURALIST. 


within.  The  first  three  woodcuts  given  on  p.  1 56 
show  the  process  of  alteration  within  the  ^^^  ;  whilst 
the  last,  or  fourth  ^gg^  demonstrates  that  the  larva 
is  nearly  complete.     When  it  is,  it  bursts  through 


Fig.  217. — a.  Head  of  male;  b,  head  of  female. 

the  ^gg,  swims  actively  and  curiously  about  some- 
thing like  a  Corethra,  and  eventually  passes  into 
the  7iymph  stage — the  equivalent  to  the  chrysalis 
of  a  butterfly.     The  hardened  skin  becomes  a  kind 


''THEY  GO  A- fishing:'  159 

of  "  boat  cradle,"  although  not  of  bulrushes,  to 
float  the  fully  developed  insect  to  the  surface, 
whence  it  may  take  wing. 

But,  as  a  faithful  chronicler  of  young  naturalists 
— than  whom  there  are  no  people  more  joyous 
and  optimistic — I  cannot  stop  to  mention  the  great 
army  of  commonplace  things  they  collected,  "  All 
was  fish  which  came  to  their  net  " — that  ought  to 
be  the  motto  of  every  young  naturalist.  You  may 
be  devoted  to  certain  things  now — may  even  regard 
the  collectors  and  observers  of  certain  other  things 
you  don't  care  for  as  absurd  and  even  stupid  (they 
perhaps  do  the  same  as  regards  you)  ;  but  by-and- 
by,  when  you  grow  older,  your  sympathies  will 
extend,  and  a  fuller  and  richer  life  will  be  the 
result. 


l60  Tim  PLAYTIME   NATURALIST. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

A  NEW   HUNTING-GROUND  :     AMONG  THE    MITES. 

One  fine,  half-sultry,  half- foggy  morning,  just 
before  breakfast,  one  of  the  boys  rushed  into  the 
room  with  a  piece  of  bark,  on  which  hosts  of  creep- 
ing things  were  swarming. 

'*  Look  here,"  said  he  ;  "  here's  a  lot  of  woodlice." 
Willie  looked  at  them  through  his  pocket-lens, 
and  saw  that  all  had  eight  legs.  Now,  legs  as  a 
rule  can  hardly  be  used  as  a  means  of  classifica- 
tion, unless  for  wooden  tables.  Still,  their  number 
is  not  without  value.  Thus,  if  a  creature  has  six 
legs,  you  know  it  is  an  insect ;  if  eight  legs,  that 
it  belongs  to  the  spider  family  (Arachnida) ;  if  ten 
legs,  to  that  represented  by  shrimps,  lobsters,  crabs, 
etc.  (Crustacea). 

Now,  a  real  woodlouse  (Oniscus)  is  a  crustacean, 
and  has  ten  legs,  all  of  equal  length.  Willie's 
elass  told  him  at  once  the  division  of  the  animal 
kingdom  to  which  the  little  objects  belonged. 


A    NEIV  HUNTING-GROUND.  l6l 

"  No,"  said  he,  "  they  are  not  woodlice  ;  they  are 
mites." 

"Mites?     What!  cheese- mites  ?" 

"  No,"  he  replied.  "  Cheese-mites  are  not  the 
only  kind  in  the  world.  You  have  no  idea  of  the 
number  of  kinds  of  mites  there  are.  They  can 
be  found  almost  everywhere,  feeding  on  decaying 
substances  ;  nearly  every  kind  of  plant  is  haunted 
by  them.  They  are  very  common  under  the  bark 
of  trees  and  shrubs,  under  stones,  and  so  on. 
You  find  them  on  animals,  especially  birds,  where 
they  devour  the  waste  scurf  and  feathers,  so  they 
are  really  so  many  barbers  and  piiimassiers,  or 
feather-cleaners.  They  may  be  found  in  nearly 
every  pond,  where  they  are  fitted  to  an  aquatic  life, 
and  go  by  the  name  of  water-mites." 

That  was  a  long  speech  for  my  young  friend  to 
make.  But  it  contained  news  for  most  of  his 
audience  ;  and,  what  was  more  important,  it 
suggested  an  additional  happy  hunting-ground. 

"  I  say,"  eagerly  remarked  Jack,  "  let's  go  mite- 
hunting  to-day." 

No  sooner  said  than  agreed  upon — for  boyhood 
allows  no  procrastination  in  the  indulgence  of  its 
whims. 

But,  as  many  of  the  objects  they  determined  to 


1 62  7 HE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 

hunt  are  so  small  that  the  prick  of  a  pin  on  paper 
would  about  represent  their  natural  size  (except 
the  water-mites),  they  required  a  good  deal  of 
looking  for.  I  doubt  whether  they  would  have 
found  some  kinds  at  all,  if  it  had  not  been  for 
their  living  together  in  great  numbers  [social 
mites),  so  that  they  presented  the  appearance  of 
animated  dust.  Under  the  microscope,  however, 
not  only  could  the  different  species  be  easily  made 
out,  but  the  males  and  females  of  each  distin- 
guished— the  latter  often  differing  more  in  appear- 
ance from  each  other  than  one  species  does  from 
another. 

It  is  astonishing,  after  one  has  commenced  a 
special  study  of  natural  objects,  how  common 
we  find  them,  although,  perhaps,  we  had  hardly 
suspected  their  existence  before.  The  scales  are 
removed  from  our  eyes.  You  soon  find  out  objects 
when  you  have  learned  to  take  an  interest  in  them. 
Indeed,  the  art  of  "  taking  an  interest  "  in  anything 
is  half  the  battle. 

Thus  Jack  had  heard  the  gardener  talk  about 
"  them  darned  red  spiders,"  but  he  neither  asked 
what  they  were  nor  took  the  trouble  even  to 
look  at  them,  until  after  that  eventful  morning 
when  the  boys  went  mite-hunting.     Then  he  found 


A    NEW  HUNTING-GROUND.  1 63 

that  the  gardener's  "  red  spiders "  were  in  reaHty 
mites. 

So  away  the  boys  strolled,  their  pockets  crammed 
with  pill-boxes  and  sandwiches.  One  of  the  party 
got  nearly  thrown  down  by  a  gorse-bush  when 
crossing  the  common,  and  this  led  him  to  see  that 
the  cobwebs  entangled  in  the  furze  were  crowded 
with  a  dense  red  powder. 

''  Here  you  are  !  "  he  cried.  So  the  powder  was 
pill-boxed,  although,  somehow  or  another,  it  all 
seemed  to  run  together  into  a  ball.  The  individual 
mites  were  afterwards  found  to  be  TetranycJiiis 
telarius.  It  seemed  that  the  web  was  their  own,  not 
a  spider's.  They  had  somehow  spun  it  for  mutual 
protection  or  defence  against  the  rain,  just  as  the 
social  caterpillars  of  the  little  eggar-moth  do, 
which  one  sees  so  abundantly  on  the  hawthorn 
hedges  during  a  hot  and  droughty  summer. 

Many  cobwebs  are  attributed  to  spiders  which, 
maybe,  are  the  work  of  these  social  mites.  Now, 
a  spider's  web  is  in  reality  a  trap.  Mites'  cob- 
webs are  houses,  barracks,  castles.  You  will  find 
the  lime  trees,  late  in  August  or  early  in  Sep- 
tember, with  their  trunks  and  branches  often 
half  covered  with  lovely  and  delicate  webs,  on 
which  you    see   a   special    kind    of   mite    {Tetra- 


164 


THE  PLAYTIME   NATURALIST. 


nychus  tiliaritis)  moving  about.  These  webs  often 
look  more  like  a  layer  of  varnish  than  anything 
else  ;  but  the  reddish-coloured  powder  on  them 
represents  the  inhabitants  of  this  wonderful  Lilipu- 
tian  city. 


Fig.  218. —  Tetranychns  telarius. 
(The  spot  within  the  circle 
represents  the  natural  size  as 
nearly  as  possible. ) 


Fig.  219.  —  Tetranychus 
tiliarius. 


The  stone-mite  {TetranycJms  lapidtis)  was  found 
in  great  numbers.  It  so  happened  that  this  had 
been  a  favourite  object  with  Willie's  father  as  a 
microscopical  mount,  on  account  of  the  singular 
beauty  of  its  eggs.  He  told  Willie  that  when  he 
was  a  student  at  the  Paris  hospitals,  he  had 
frequently  seen  many  of  the  stones  in  the  pro- 
menades there  covered  with  them.  The  eggs  are 
white,  although  the  mite  is  red. 


A   NEW  HUNTING-GROUND. 


165 


But  eventually,  as  regards  land-mites,  the  old 
garden  at  the  back  of  the  house  proved  to  be  the 
best  huntincr-o-round.     This  was  fortunate,  because 


't>  fc>' 


Fig.  221. — Kggs  of  stone- 
mite  (7'-  lapidiis). 


Fig.  220.  —  Tetranychus 
lapidiis. 


Fig.  222.  —  Tetranychus  ulmi.  Fig.  223. — TetranycJius  salicis. 

on  wet  days  they  could  make  a  rush  (after  they 
had  learned  what  to  rush  out  for),  and  "  collar  "one 
or  two  different  kinds.     Of  course,  I  don't  know 


1 66 


THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST 


what  the  word  "collar"  means,  but  my  young  friends 
seemed  to. 

In  this  way  they  got  the  plum-tree  mite  (7". 
pninicolor),  the  elm-tree  mite  {T.  ulmi\  the  willow 
mite  {T.  salicis),  the  poplar  mite  {T.  popidi),  the 
guelder-rose  mite  {T.  vibitrni),  etc.    In  their  rambles 


Fig.  225. —  Thetranycus 
viburni. 


Fig.  224. —  Tetranychiis  poptdi. 

they  found  that  even  the  stinging-nettle — marvel- 
lously protected  though  it  be — is  attacked  by  a 
special  species  of  mite  {T.  urticce). 

Do  we  really  understand  what  is.  meant  by  the 
word  "  life  "  }  If  its  importance  is  to  be  measured 
by  the  mass  of  flesh  in  which  the  subtle  spirit 
is  incarnated,  then  the  Greenland  whale  and  the 
elephant  should  be  placed  at  the  very  highest 
summit  of  the  zoological  ladder.  It  can  be  im- 
prisoned  within,    and    direct    the    motions    of,   a 


A   NEW  HUNTING-GROUND. 


167 


microscopic  body  as  easily  and  marvellously  as 
those  of  a  macroscopic  body.  1 

"  As  true,  as  perfect,  in  a  hair  as  heart." 

Life  may  even  be  "  pill-boxed "  within  life,  the 
animal  within  the  vegetable,  the  vegetable  within 
the   animal — not  parasitically,  and    therefore   de- 


Fig.  226. — Tetranyckus 
urticce. 


Fig.  227. — Mite  from  Gamasus 
of  humble-bee. 


structively,  merely,  but  with  mutual  co-operation 
and  advantage  {symbiosis).  This  wonderful  chain 
of  life,  of  which  Pope,  with  genuine  poetic  insight, 
said — 

"  In  Nature's  chain,  whichever  link  you  strike. 
Tenth  or  ten  thousandth,  breaks  the  chain  alike," 

and  to  which  the  great  Darwin  devoted  a  noble  life 
for  the  purpose  of  making  out  its  interdependence 
and    absoluteness,   and    therefore  justifying   "the 


1 68  THE  PLAYTIME   NATURALIST. 

ways  of  God  to  man," — loses  none  of  its  wonder, 
nor  even  of  its  mystery,  as  we  know  more  of  it. 
"  The  greater  the  circle  of  our  knowledge,  the 
greater  the  periphery  of  the  external  darkness." 
Lord  Lytton's  aphorism  holds  especially  good  of 
all  genuine  scientific  research. 

Swift  was   thought   to   be   only  using    poetical 
licence  when  he  said — 

*■'  For  bigger  fleas  have  little  fleas 
Upon  their  backs  to  bite  'em, 
And  little  fleas  have  lesser  fleas, 
And  so  ad  infinitum" 

Here  is  a  humble-bee,  one  of  the  very  com- 
monest of  objects.  Most  of  them  are  attacked  on 
the  under  part  of  the  body  by  minute,  shiny,  brown 
beetles  called  Gamasus.  The  belly  of  the  bee 
sometimes  swarms  with  them.  Well,  on  this 
parasite  is  another — a  mite  (Fig.  227).  Sometimes  a 
Gamasus  will  have  six  or  seven  mites  living  upon 
it.  They  possess  special  kinds  of  claws  for  cling- 
ing to  the  Gamasus  with,  and  a  special  kind  of 
mouth. 

But  of  all  the  various  species  of  the  family  of 
mites,  perhaps  none  are  so  beautiful  or  interesting 
as  the  water-mites.  When  our  young  naturalists 
set  about  mite-collecting,  Willie  remembered  that 
in   the  volumes  of  Science  Gossip  for  1882,    1883, 


A   NEW  HUNTING-GROUND. 


169 


and  1884,  there  were  some  capital  illustrated 
articles  on  the  subject  by  Mr.  C.  F.  George  ;  so 
they  had  recourse  to  them  to  make  out  their  finds. 
These  water-mites  belong  to  special  groups  known 
as  Hygrobatidse  and  Hydrachnidse.  They  have 
generally  from  two  to  four  eyes.  When  under- 
going their  insect-like  changes,  or  metamorpJioseSy 


Fig.  228. — Female  of  Arremiriis. 

a  very  significant  fact  occurs.  Many  naturalists 
now  regard  the  different  progressive  stages  through 
which  an  individual  passes  before  it  becomes  adult, 
as  more  or  less  representative  of  the  evolutionary 
changes  through  which  the  species  itself  has  passed 


I/O 


THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 


during  the  long   period  of  time  in  which    it  has 
been  developing. 

For  instance,  when  a  water- mite  is  in  its  larval 
stage,  it  has  only  six  legs.  Therefore  at  that 
period,  so  far  as  the  number  of  legs  is  concerned, 

it  is  an  insect.  In 
its  adult  stage  it  has 
eight  legs.  So  the 
water-mites,  in  this 
respect,  connect  the 
two  great  classes  of  In- 
secta  and  Arachnida. 

These  two  kinds  of 
water-mites  are  sepa- 
rated into  distinct  di- 
visions, one  possessing 
two  eyes  only,  the 
other  four.  The  former  go  by  the  scientific  name 
of  Hygrobatidae,  and  the  latter  of  Hydrachnidae. 

Our  little  party  were  successful  in  capturing 
several  species  of  these  creatures.  Some  seemed 
to  prefer  the  clear,  moving  water,  others  the 
swampy  or  boggy  places  ;  some  of  them  were  of  a 
green  colour,  like  Arrenuriis  viridis,  the  males  of 
which  can  be  distinguished  by  their  comparatively 
long  tails.     The  genus  Arrenurus  includes  several 


Fig.  229. — Arrenurus  perforatus, 
male. 


A   NEW  HUNTING-GROUND. 


171 


British    species,  nearly  all   of  which   are  brightly 
and  beautifully  coloured— green,  blue,  red,  yellow, 


Fig.  230. — Under  side  o^  Arremirus perjorattis,  male. 


Fig.  231. — Arremtrus  bite- 
cinalor. 


Fig.  232. — Arrenur^is  buc- 
cinator  (under  side). 


etc.     Nor  do  these  colours  fade  after  the  objects 
have  been  killed   and  mounted   for   microscopical 


172 


THE  PLAYTIME   NATURALIST. 


examination.  Some  are  distinguished  by  having 
a  hard  or  chitinous  skin,  others  by  possessing  a 
soft  one.  The  chitinous  kind,  however,  is  the 
more  numerous.     The  hard  plates  fit  almost  like 


JFTY77 


Fig.  233. — Arrettunis  cliiptiais,  male  (upper  side). 

those  of  the  carapace,  or  shell,  of  a  crab.  Males 
and  females  of  each  kind  are  remarkable  for  their 
non-resemblance  to  each  other.  The  eyes  of  nearly 
all  are  very  beautiful  objects  when  seen  under  a 
microscope. 


A   NEW  HUNTING-GROUND. 


173 


Mr.  George  tells  us  that  when  they  are  confined 
in  a  glass  vessel  of  water,  the  females  lay  their 
eggs  on  the  glass.  The  eggs  are  generally  of  a 
pinkish  colour,  surrounded  with  a  whitish  opaque 


Fig.  234. — Arrenurus  triaispidator,  male. 

substance,  which  seems  to  be  the  material  used  in 
cementing  the  eggs  to  the  glass.  When  the  eggs 
hatch,  a  minute  larva  is  produced,  possessing  six 


174 


THE  PLAYTIME   NATURALIST. 


legs.     From  their  appearance,  Mr.  George  thinks 

they  must  be  parasitic  on  some  other  kind  creature ; 

but  he   never  could  find  out  which.     So  here  is 

another  riddle  still  left 
unanswered  for  such 
students  as  my  young 
friends. 

Among  the  captures 
were  A  rrenuncs  sinu- 
ator,  whose  short  tail  is 
of  a  bright  yellow  colour, 

Fig.  2z^.—Arremirus froiidator,      ^nd  the  part  where  the 

female  (upper  side) 

body  and  tail  are  joined 
together,  a  beautiful  blue;    A.  albator,  oi  3.  light 


Fig.  236. — Ai-remirus  riitilator.     Fig.  237. — Arrenurus  rndlator, 

female  (upper  side). 


body  colour,  and  having  a  differently  shaped  tail  ; 
A.  crassicaiidatiis ;  A.  perforatus,  one  of  the  most 


A   NEW  HUNTING-GROUND. 


175 


Fig.  238. — Arrenurus  integrator. 


^^^-  '^39-—Arremirus  truncatellus. 


iy6 


THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 


beautiful  of  all   our  British  water-mites  ;    A.  buc- 
cinator;  A.  ellipticus ;  A.  tricuspidator,  etc. 


Fig.  240. — Arrenurus  globator. 


Fig.  241. — Arrenurus  globator,  male. 


A   NEW  HUNTING-GROUND. 


177 


The  female  water-mites  are  not  only  more 
numerous  than  the  males,  but  of  larger  size. 

Among  the  soft  skinned  water-mites,  the  com- 
monest are  A.  frondator,  A.  riitilator^  etc.,  all 
very  small,  and  of  a  globular  shape,  but  hardly 
less  brightly  coloured  than  those  above   mentioned. 


Fig.  242. — Arremirus  buccinator. 

Arrenurus  U'icuspidator,  A.  integrator,  and  A. 
trimcatelhis  are  less  common  forms  ;  the  latter  is 
an  exquisitely  lovely  object,  green,  with  vermilion 
eyes.  A.  integrator  is  of  a  lovely  blue,  and  A. 
tricuspidator  of  an  equally  attractive  red.  All 
the    puncturings    and    other    markings    came    out 


178 


THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST 


splendidly  when  these  lovely  creatures  were  put 
under  the  microscope,  and  examined  as  opaque 
objects.     Jack's    father   was   quite    interested    by 


Fig.  243. — Arrenurus  atax. 

their  beauty ;  and  as  for  Jack's  sister — why,  she 
made  a  mental  vow  she  would  never  marry  a  man 
who  was  not  a  naturalist ! 


CHAPTER    IX. 

TOADS,    FROGS,    NEWTS,   AND   REPTILES. 

1  FORGOT  to  mention  that,  earlier  in  the  summer, 
the  two  lads  had  done  the  usual  preliminary  aqua- 
rium-keeping. That  is  to  say,  they  had  got  up  a 
structure  with  glass  sides  which  leaked  horribly, 
and  had  crammed  it  with  all  sorts  of  water-weeds 
and  water-creatures — molluscs,  fishes,  frogs,  newts, 
water-beetles,  etc.  There  was  terrible  murder  and 
massacre  for  a  day  or  two  ;  splendid  eating  and 
drinking  for  a  few  ;  and  suffering  and  dying  for  the 
many.  Nature  will  forgive  almost  any  crime  ex- 
cept that  of  overcrowding !  Her  punishments  for 
this  offence  are  unappealable. 

The  eager  young  naturalists  soon  recognized 
this  important  fact.  They  had  put  into  their 
leaky  old  tank  all  the  things  they  had  found,  from 
humane  motives,  not  cruel  ones.  There  was,  of 
course,  the  desire  of  possession,  and  the  joy  of 
conquest.  But  neither  of  the  lads  would  have 
9 


l8o  THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 

caused  the  slightest  suffering  if  he  could  have 
helped  it.  And  as  they  fished  out  the  dead 
bodies  of  their  previous  day's  hunting,  both  of 
them  said,  "  Poor  beggars  !  "  That  was  their  Burial 
Service.  Then,  like  brave  and  sensible  lads,  they 
recognized  the  fact  that  failure  is  only  the 
stepping-stone  to  success — that  a  boy  (as  well  as 
a  man)  may  indeed  learn  more  from  a  single 
failure  than  a  single  success  ;  that  is,  if  he  has  got 
any  grit  in  him.  If  he  hasn't,  why,  it  doesn't 
matter  much,  either  way. 

The  microscope  had  come  to  the  ardent  young 
fellows  like  a  quiet  revelation.  It  had  made 
every  living  fact  worth  observing,  all  the  more 
observable.  Consequently,  after  the  coup  d'etat 
of  their  aquarium,  the  aquatic  government  of  that 
colony  had  settled  down  into  a  little  better 
order.  There  were  fewer  living  creatures  in  it,  and 
consequently  fewer  rows.  Some  people  wonder 
why  Europe  should  be  practically  an  "  armed 
camp."  They  forget  that  its  population  has 
doubled,  and,  therefore,  we  have  double  as  many 
people  to  quarrel  among  themselves  now  than 
there  were  in  the  days  of  Napoleon  Bonaparte. 
It  is  not  countries  which  go  to  war  ;  it  is  nations 
— that    is,  populations.     Germany   and   France  do 


TOADS,   FROGS,    NEWTS,   AND   REPTILES.        l8l 

not  hate  each  other,  or  despise  each  other,  more 
than  the  dwellers  in  the  East  and  West  Ends  of 
overpopulated  London.  Overcrowding  means  mur- 
murings,  grumblings,  wrestlings.  Overcrowding  is 
punished  by  Nature  after  her  own  stern  manner. 
Rachel  weeps  for  her  children  in  vain,  and  re- 
fuses to  be  comforted,  when  the  germs  of  typhoid 
and  cholera  attack  overcrowded  and  therefore  un- 
cleanly cities.  Farmers  grumble,  and  pray,  and 
starve,  when  they  overcrowd  their  corn-fields  ; 
and  moulds,  rusts,  and  mildews  visit  them  in  con- 
sequence. 

There  is  just  another  point  worth  mentioning  in 
this  sermon  of  mine.  The  higher  the  zoological 
rank  of  organisms,  the  more  their  requirements. 

But  I  am  not  going  to  stop  my  narrative  for  a 
series  of  copy-book  moralities  ;  so  the  end  of  my 
sermon  has  come,  and  its  application,  which  is — if 
you  rig  up  an  aquarium,  don't  put  too  much  into 
it.  When  Nature  first  rigged  up  our  planet  with 
life,  she  began  with  small  and  feeble  things.  That 
enabled  her  to  get  on,  to  add  to  her  stock,  to 
introduce  more  highly  organized  breeds,  until  at 
length  earth  became  the  Chief  Nursery  for  Heaven. 

My  young  friends  had  collected  "a  lot  of  spawn." 
That  comprehensive  boyish  term  included  the  eggs 


1 82  THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 

of  newts,  frogs,  and  toads.  Of  course,  people  will 
persist  in  calling  these  objects  reptiles,  whereas 
they  are  actually  more  nearly  related  to  fishes  than 
to  reptiles.  They  are  "  nasty  slimy  things "  to 
most  people  ;  to  others  who  are  in  the  secret, 
they  are  the  degenerate  descendants  of  a  race  of 
primary  vertebrates  which  once  held  the  same 
relative  position  among  the  existing  tribes  of  the 
earth  as  you  and  I  do  to-day. 

There  were  once  English  frogs  as  big  as  High- 
land oxen,  and  marine  newts  as  large  as  ordi- 
nary crocodiles.  In  Cheshire  (about  Storeton  and 
Liverpool  generally)  you  find  their  footprints, 
bigger  than  the  impressions  made  by  human 
hands.  The  huge  Japanese  salamander  in  the 
Zoological  Gardens  (three  feet  long)  is  the  last 
giant  representative  of  a  race  which  flourished  at 
its  best  many  millions  of  years  ago.  No  wonder, 
instinctively  feeling  the  superiority  of  its  genea- 
logical position,  that  it  snaps  so  fiercely  at  the 
umbrellas  and  sticks  which  "  'Arry  and  'Arriet " 
poke  into  its  face,  when  it  is  trying  to  get  a 
siesta. 

Take  the  spawn  of  toads,  frogs,  and  newts,  for 
instance.  There  are  no  commoner  objects  any- 
where.     This    so-called    "  spawn "    is    merely   the 


TOADS,    FROGS,    NEWTS,    AND  REPTILES.        1 83 

eggs  of  those  creatures.  All  true  amphibians 
resort  to  the  water  to  deposit  their  eggs  therein  ; 
whereas  reptiles  avoid  the  water  for  that  purpose. 
Even  such  thoroughly  aquatic  reptiles  as  turtles 
will  swim  hundreds  of  miles  to  deposit  their  eggs 
on  the  land.  And  then,  the  young  of  all  amphi- 
bians live  and  swim  in  the  water,  and  are  pos- 
sessed of  special  swimming  and  breathing  organs 
for  the  purpose,  except  in  those  easily  explained 
exceptions  (such  as  the  European  salamander)  in 
which  the  larval  stages  are  accelerated  to  avoid 
such  a  necessity. 

The  gathering  together  of  frogs  and  toads  in 
the  ponds  and  marshes  in  the  early  summer,  and 
their  gratified  calls  to  each  other  ("  croaking,"  the 
uninitiated  call  such  noises),  is  heard  all  over  the 
world.  It  is  as  common  in  Australia  as  in  England 
— even  commoner.  The  wide  geographical  distri- 
bution of  these  creatures  is  a  proof  of  their  high 
geological  antiquity. 

When  my  young  friends  first  went  out  to 
seek  the  spawn  of  these  much-despised  but  tho-_ 
roughly  harmless  creatures,  they  half  shared  the 
usual  dislike  universally  manifested  for  them. 
Whereas  it  is  a  pleasure  to  find  and  to  handle 
birds'   eggs,  it  is  with  much   overcoming  of  pre- 


1 84 


I'HE   PLAYTIME   NATURALIST. 


judice  only  that  people  can  be  brought  to  handle 
the  eggs  of  toads  and  frogs.  Nevertheless,  the 
examination  and  observation  of  the  latter  objects 
are  even  more  interesting  than  birds'  eggs.  In 
the  latter,  the  opaque  egg-shell  hides  all  observa- 
tion of  the  marvellous  transformations  which  take 
place  whilst  the  germ-spot  of  the  yolk  is  converted 
into  a  bright,  feathered,  attractive  bird.     In  amphi- 


Fig.  244. — Frog-spawn  in  situ. 

bian  eggs,  with  low  microscopic  magnification,  you 
witness  every  stage  in  the  wonderful  series  of 
changes,  until  the  larvae,  or  '*  tadpoles,"  are  hatched 
out.  Even  then  the  half-transparent  tail  and  gills 
enable  you  plainly  to  see  the  circulation  of  blood. 

The  young  collectors  w^ere  not  long  before  they 
could  distinguish  between  the  spawn  of  toads  and 


TOADS,    FROGS,    NEWTS,    AND   REPTILES.        1 85 

frogs.  That  of  the  former  is  in  long  strings,  Hke 
so  many  necklaces  ;  that  of  the  latter,  in  dense 
irregular  masses.  The  newts  take  more  trouble, 
and  wrap  each  individual  ^^'g  in  the  leaf  of  a 
submerged  aquatic  plant,  such  as  the  leaves  of  the 
star- wort  {Callitriche  vernd),  for  instance. 


Fig.  245. — Single  eggs  of  newt  wrapped  in  leaves,  showing 

development. 

The  boys  kept  the  frog-spawn  in  a  shallow 
vessel,  which  they  covered  with  glass,  to  exclude 
the  dust.  Into  this  vessel  was  placed  a  supply 
of  small  aquatic  plants,  so  that  when  the  tadpoles 
hatched  out  they  would  find  a  plentiful  supply  of 
infusoria  on  which  to  exist  after  absorbing  and 
devouring  the  gelatinous  masses  of  their  eggs. 
There  are  no  better  scavengers,  removers  of  decay- 


1 86 


THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 


ing  material,  in  the  world  than  tadpoles.  This 
glass  vessel  was  placed  in  a  window  having  a 
north-east  aspect  The  spring  was  late  this  year, 
so  the  observations  on  the  spawn  were  carried 
on   right   into  April.     The  eggs,  as  a  rule,  do  not 


Fig.  246. — Small  ova  of  frog. 


Fig.  247. — Cleavage  or  segmen- 
tation of  eggs  (sixth  day). 


change  much  until  the  fifth  day,  although  their 
integuments  thicken  and  get  rather  tough.  Then 
a  segmentation  is  observable,  which  becomes 
opaque  and  more  distinct  every  day.  On  the  ninth 
day  a  striking  change  takes  place,  and  the  tadpole 


Fig.  248. — Ditto,  another 

stage. 


Fig.  249. — Ditto,  advanced 
stage. 


is  roughed  out,  so  to  speak.  On  the  fourteenth 
day  the  embryo  has  the  power  of  self-movement, 
and  you  see  it  bringing  its  head  and  tail  together 
with  a  jerk.  On  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  days 
the  juvenile  tadpoles   escape    from    the    eggs,   but 


TOADS,    FROGS,    NEWTS,   AND   REPTILES        1 87 

they  have  a  good  deal  of  wriggling  to  do  before 
they  clear  themselves  of  their  albuminous  in- 
vestment. Afterwards  they  set  to  work  and 
devour  it  ! 

JB 


Fig.  2t;o. 


-A,  Segmentation  of  egg,  fourteenth  day  ;  b,  ditto, 
enlarged. 


The  length  of  the  young  frog-tadpole,  when  it 
escapes  from  the  Qgg,  is  not  quite  half  an  inch. 
The  gills  grow  very 
rapidly,  and  it  is  a 
pretty  sight  to  behold 
the  blood  slowly  but 
regularly  circulating 
through  them.  The 
best  way  of  observing 
them  is  to  rig  up  a 
zoophyte  -  trough  by 
taking  two  strips  of 
glass,  and  fastening  on 


Fig.  251. — Development  of  tad- 
pole seventeen  days  after  lay- 
ing the  egg. 


one  (a)  an  india-rubber  ring  (d),  deep  enough  to 
hold  sufficient  water  in  which  to  put  the  tadpole,  or 


1 88 


THE  PLAYTIME   NATURALIST. 


any  other  similar  aquatic  object  you  want  to 
observe  in  the  Hving  state.  Then  place  a  strip 
of  glass  over  the  top  of  the  improvised  cell,  and 
fasten  the  two  strips  together  by  means  of  the 
ordinary  thin  india-rubber  bands  (b,  b)  used  for 
paper  rolls.    Two  small  wooden  wedges  (c,  c)  keep 


Fig.  252. — Tadpoles  sixteen  days  after  laying  the  egg  (natural 

size  and  enlarged). 

the  glass  strips  so  well  gripped  that  the  cell  will 
be  quite  water-tight. 

It  is  very  interesting  to  observe  the  changes  in 
the  tadpoles.  As  the  warm  summer  months 
develop  them,  you  see  them  changing,  not 
only  their  shape,  but  their  habits   as  well.     They 


Fig.  253. — Improvised  live-box. 

frequently  come  to  the  surface  of  the  water  to 
breathe  ;  they  swim  less  with  their  tails,  and  use 
their  developing  limbs  for  that  purpose  instead. 

In  the  tadpoles  of  toads  you  see  the  action  of 
the   fore    limbs   confined   beneath  the  translucent 


TOADS,    FROGS,    NEWTS,    AND  REPTILES.       1 89 

skin,  moving  synchronously  with   the   after-Hmbs. 
Toad-tadpoles  behave  very  similarly  to  those  of 


Fig.  254. — First  frog-stage 
(magnified). 


Fig.  255.— Second  frog-stage 
(magnified). 


the  frog.     At  the  end  of  the  long  series  of  changes 


IQO 


THE   PLAYTIME   NATURALIST. 


the  tadpole  rather  suddenly  assumes  the  adult 
shape.  The  tail  and  gills  are  absorbed,  and  the 
body  shrinks,  as  it  were,  into  the  shape  of  a  frog 
or  toad,  as  the  case  may  be.  About  115  to  120 
days  from  the  deposition  of  the  spawn  are  required 
to  attain  the  adult  and  natural  form. 


Fig.  256. — The  common  toad. 

Newts,  as  everybody  knows,  never  let  go  their 
tails,  although  they  lose  their  gills  ;  some  retain 
the  latter  for  a  year  or  two  after  leaving  the  larval 
state.  The  mature  newt,  therefore,  represents  the 
tadpole  state  of  a  frog  or  toad,  and  the  latter  may 
be  regarded  as  an  advance  on  the  former. 

Those  really  beautiful  objects,  the  crested  newts 


TOADS,    FROGS,    NEWTS,   AND  REPTILES      191 

{Triton  cristatus),  common  in  every  pond,  were 
procured,  male  and  female.  Everybody  was  de- 
lighted with  what  some  of  them  had  before  de- 
spised, when  they  saw  the  brightly  coloured  males 
moving  about  in  the  large  bell-glass  so  gracefully 
— their  dorsal  crests  waving  like  a  shirt-frill,  and 
their  brilliant  eyes  looking  so  intelligently  at  the 
spectators.  I  wonder  what  the  newts  thought  of 
the  laughing  and  joking  band  of  young  philo- 
sophers on  the  other  side  of  the  glass  ! 

The    smooth     newt    {Lissotriton    punctatus)    is 


Fig.  257. — Female  of  smooth  newt. 

another  of  our  British  amphibians.  It  is  most 
interesting  to  watch  the  female  depositing  her 
eggs.  She  does  not  leave  them  in  strings  and 
masses,  like  the  toads  and  frogs,  but  wraps  each 
ovum  up  separately  in  the  living  leaf  of  an  aquatic 
plant  (see  Fig.  245),  as  if  it  were  the  most  valuable 
little  parcel  in  the  whole  world,  which  it  doubtless 
is  to  the  careful  and  anxious  mother.  These  eggs 
require  from  fourteen  to  sixteen  days  to  hatch.  The 
dainty  little  tadpoles  which  emerge  are  much  more 


192  THE   PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 

transparent-looking  than  those  of  frogs  and  toads. 
Indeed,  they  are  so  very  transparent  at  first 
that  you  have  to  look  keenly  to  see  them  ;  so 
I  suppose  their  transparency  must  be  more  or 
less  protective.  Their  fore  feet  develop  within 
four  or  five  days  of  hatching,  and  then  the 
creatures  are  about  half  an  inch  long. 

The   boys  had  what  they  called  "some  rattling 


Fig.  258. — Male  of  smooth  newt. 

good  fun  "  at  home  one  day.  There  is  no  fun  a 
boy  likes  more  than  teasing,  and  especially  in 
teasing  those  he  loves  most  ;  and  whom  he  would 
defend  and  fight  for,  tooth  and  nail,  if  any  other 
fellow  dared  to  tease  them. 

Now,  the  great  art  of  teasing  is  to  frighten  your 
sisters  and  cousins  with  something  you  are  not 
fric^htened  at — at  least,  not  now.  You  must  not 
tell  them  that  once  you  shuddered  as  much 
when  you  touched  a  frog  or  a  toad  as  they  do 
now — that   would   spoil  the   fun,   and   lower   your 


TOADS,    FROGS,    AEWTS,   AND   REPTILES.      1 93 

own  dignity.  Nor  must  you  in  any  way  let  them 
know  that  even  now  you  regard  snakes  and  vipers 
with  the  same  fear  and  trembHng  that  your  sisters 
do  frogs  and  toads. 

All  this  "teasing,"  however,  is  very  human; 
and  I  fully  believe  sisters  and  cousins  like  it, 
although  they  call  the  inflictors  "  horrid  old 
things."  Life  would  be  a  very  dull  affair  if  it  were 
not  for  a  little  breeze,  just  as  the  atmosphere 
would  get  stagnant  were  it  not  for  storms. 
Even  love-birds  get  up  sham  quarrels  in  lieu  of 
real  ones.  You  see,  they  are  like  all  the  rest  of 
us — are  "  obliged  to  keep  up  appearances." 

The  lads  had  taken  a  couple  of  specimens  of 
the  natterjack  toad  {Biifo  calamita) — a  much  rarer 
species  than  the  common  toad,  and  usually  re- 
stricted to  swampy  districts  not  far  from  the  sea. 
A  yellowish-brown  sort  of  toad,  remarkable  for  the 
yellow  line  running  down  the  middle  of  its  back, 
and  the  black  bands  on  its  legs.  It  runs  about 
almost  like  a  mouse,  and  has  quite  a  different 
style  to  that  of  its  commoner  relative. 

Well,  the  lads  let  out  a  couple  of  these  natter- 
jacks in  the  room,  and  you  can  imagine  the 
commotion  they  created.  If  they  had  crawled 
like    ordinary   toads,   that    would    have    been    bad 


194 


THE  PLAYTIME   NATURALIST 


enough  ;  but  to  see  them  running  was  what  no 
toad  had  ever  done  before.  So  there  were  shrieks, 
and  jumping  on  chairs,  and  cries  of  "  Horrid 
things  ! "  until  the  mischief-makers  captured  their 
prey  in   a  corner,  which  they  were  easily  able  to 


Fig.  259.— Natterjack  toad  {Btifo  calamitd), 

do,  being  led  there   by  the  disagreeable  smell  of 
the  creatures. 

There  was  a  fine  patch  of  heath-land  not  far 
from  the  house — just  the  very  place  to  look  for 
slow-worms,  lizards,  and  vipers.  And  hard  by 
was  a  damper  tract,  where  ordinary  snakes  were 
known  to  frequent.  Thither  the  young  adven- 
turers marched,  with  bottles  to  contain  their  prey, 
and  some  benzine  and  spirits  of  wine.     There  was 


TOADS,   FROGS,   NEWTS,   AND  REPTILES.      1 95 


Fig.  260. — Group  of  British  lizards.     <?,  Viparous  lizard  ;  b,  sand-lixard  | 

c^  blind  or  slow-worm. 


196 


THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 


a  sort  of  danger  mixed  up  with  this  excursion, 
which  somewhat  spiced  it — the  dangerous  adders, 
or  vipers.  Of  course,  these  creatures  are  not  to 
be  despised.  They  really  can  inflict  a  very  painful 
and  a  very  dangerous  bite,  and  there  is  no  doubt 
whatever  that  occasional'y  such  bites  have  ended 
fatally.     Nevertheless,   I   am  of    opinion   that  the 


Fig.  261. -Head  of  viper.  Fig.  262.— Head  of  common  snake. 

viper  is  a  very  much  over-dreaded  reptile.  I  am 
very  certain  it  is  much  more  afraid  of  human 
beings  than  we  need  be  afraid  of  it.  Still,  for  all 
that,  I  never  approach  a  sleeping  viper  except 
with  cautious  respect. 

The  viper  is  a  capital  illustration  of  the  benefits 
to  be  derived  from  "  putting  on  a  lot  of  side."  It 
looks  a  good  deal  more  dangerous  than  it  really 


TOADS,    FROGS,    NEWTS,    AND  REPTILES.       1 97 

is,  and  threatens  a  great  deal  more  than  it  is 
capable  of  performing.  It  is  almost  ludicrous  to 
see  how  helpless  a  viper  is  when  you  get  hold  of 
it  by  the  end  of  its  tail.  It  wriggles  and  twists 
and  tries  to  get  at  your  hand  ;  but  it  can  no  more 
do  so  than  if  it  were  a  tortoise.  I  have  sometimes 
thought — in  fun,  of  course — that  the  "  death's 
head  and  cross-bones "  sort  of  pattern  on  the 
viper's  head,  which  distinguishes  it  from  the  head 


V    / 


Fig.  263. — Section  of  head  of  viper,     a.  Poison-glands;  d,  fangs. 

of  the  common  snake,  is  only  a  sort  of  "  Pirate 
of  Penzance  "  swagger  about  the  **  black  flag,"  etc. 
The  common  snake  is  content  with  a  ring  round 
its  neck — hence  its  zoological  name  of  Natrix 
torqiiatiis. 

Well,  two   fine   vipers  were   captured,  Jack,  who 


198  THE  PLAYTIME   NATURALIST. 

had  had  a  good  deal  of  experience  in  such  matters, 
showing  the  others  how  to  secure  a  sleeping  viper 
with  a  forked  stick,  which  held  the  head  down 
immovably.  Then  he  acted  as  dentist,  and  re- 
moved the  two  long  fangs  from  the  upper  jaw  of 
the  creature  with  his  penknife.  These  are  hollow, 
and  communicate  with  the  poison-glands,  so 
that  when  the  reptile  bites  the  poison  flows  into 
the  wound.  It  is  this  structure  which  makes 
poisonous  snakes  so  dangerous.  When  Jack  had 
removed  the  fangs,  the  vipers  were  quite  harmless, 
and  he  then  let  them  do  what  they  liked — which 
they  couldn't. 

The  viper  is  not  an  affectionate  pet,  even  when 
its  poison-fangs  have  been  removed.  Now,  the 
common  snake  can  be  educated  and  trained  into 
one — to  come  at  call,  and  to  behave  decently.  It 
is  a  splendid  and  graceful  swimmer,  and  loves 
its  bath  quite  as  much  as  the  boys  who  fling  it  in 
like  to  see  it  swim  in  such  elegant  undulations. 

Two  or  three  species  of  lizards  were  caught 
among  the  dry  roots  of  the  half-dead  furze-bushes 
and  those  of  the  heather.  These  lizards  are  not 
easy  things  to  capture.  They  are  out  of  sight  in 
the  twinkling  of  an  eye — except  the  tips  of  their 
tails,  which  disappear  so  quickly  that  you  are  not 


TOADS,   FROGS,    NEWTS,   AND  REPTILES.      1 99 

quite  sure  it  was  not  a  viper  which  vanished.  One 
species,  the  common  brown  lizard  {Zootoca  vivipara)^ 
is  a  pretty  Httle  fellow,  with  a  glinty  brown  back 
and  pale  orange-coloured  belly,  which  is  easily 
domesticated  in  a  "vivarium."  The  female  retains 
her  eggs  in  her  body,  where  they  hatch,  and  the 
young  issue  forth  alive — hence  the  specific  zoological 
name. 

The  sand-lizard  is  distinguished  from  the  above 
both  by  its  different  habitat,  and  different  mark- 
ings. Slow-worms  are  among  the  most  interesting 
and  harmless  of  our  British  reptiles,  although  I 
have  seen  ladies  who  were  not  afraid  of  their 
husbands,  very  much  afraid  of  slow-worms.  If 
the  doctrine  of  metempsychosis  be  true,  that  is  what 
the  husbands  of  such  wives  ought  to  turn  into. 

Then  again,  the  slow-worm  is  a  genuine  British 
creature.  It  embodies  in  its  name  genuine  British 
prejudices  and  blunders.  In  the  first  place,  it  is 
v\o\.VQxy  slow  ;  in  the  second  it  is  not  blind  {{d.x  from 
it)  ;  and  in  the  third,  it  is  not  a  worm.  Stupid 
people  sometimes  inquire  why  naturalists  give 
such  long  and  accurate  names  to  things  ;  the  above 
is  an  illustration  of  the  accuracy  of  "popular  names." 
It  reminds  one  of  that  festive  confection  without 
which  no  British  Christmas  would  be  perfect — the 


200  THE  PLAYTIME   NATURALIST. 

plum-pudding.  The  fruit  which  bestows  its  name 
upon  it  is  a  small  grape,  which  when  dried  is  called 
a  currant,  and  this  currant  proceeds  to  be  2,  plum 
when  it  is  put  in  a  pudding !  It  is,  perhaps,  this 
bungling  of  words  which  makes  the  English  plum- 
pudding  so  dear  to  the  English  people. 

The  slow-worm  is  in  reality  a  footless  lizard ; 
neither  a  worm  nor  a  snake.  Its  small  but  pretty 
eyes  can  soon  be  found,  if  a  person  is  not  afraid  of 
it.  And  there  is  no  earthly  reason  why  anybody 
should,  for  even  if  a  slow- worm  was  wicked 
enough  to  try  to  bite  you,  it  couldn't  draw  blood  ; 
therefore  it  is  more  harmless  than  a  flea. 

The  boys  lost  several  fine  and  beautifully  purple- 
glinted  slow-worms  through  getting  hold  of  them 
by  their  tails.  The  slow-worms  are  always  willing 
to  sacrifice  the  fag-ends  of  their  tails  to  save  their 
bodies.  So  the  lads  got  a  few  joints,  that  was 
all.  But,  anyhow,  they  learned  that  slow-worms 
have  been  able  to  turn  even  cat  ilepsy  to  defensive 
purposes,  and  that  they  can  stiffen  their  tails 
sufficiently  to  break  off  like  a  bit  of  dry  gingerbread, 
whilst  the  living  body  so  protected  creeps  out  of 
sight,  and  also  out  of  danger  ! 


CHAPTER   X. 

SMALL    FRY. 

Meantime,  during  wet  days  and  in  the  now 
extending  evenings,  the  microscope  had  been  more 
used,  both  for  amusement  and  investigation.  Then 
it  was  that  surface-dredging  of  the  streams  and 
ponds  commenced  in  earnest.  The  boys  learned 
how  to  make  dehcate  musHn  bag-nets,  and  not  to 
trail  them  too  quickly  through  the  water,  for  fear 
of  bruising  the  fragile  things  they  wished  to 
capture  and  examine.  They  learned,  also,  how  to 
invert  the  muslin  net,  so  as  to  make  the  inside  the 
outside,  and  then  to  dip  it  repeatedly  in  their  wide- 
mouthed  pickle-bottles,  when,  of  course,  all  the 
contents  were  safely  washed  off.  It  was  real  fun 
to  see  how  the  bottle  was  scanned  with  the  pocket- 
lens  after  every  such  dip  and  wash.  The  eye  soon 
learns  to  detect  the  presence  of  a  new-comer,  even 
in  a  pickle-bottle.  Its  ways,  antics,  movements, 
all  make  it  out   as   "something    new."     So    there 


202 


THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST 


remains  the  anticipated  pleasure  of  further  and 
better  observation  of  the  capture  in  the  "  zoophyte- 
trough  "  or  the  "  live-cell  "  with  the  microscope  in 


the  evening. 


<i 


tt^ 


t 


n' 


ti^ 


w 


a 


</ 


Fig.  264. — An  improvised  zoophyte-trough. 


The  accompanying  sketch  will  give  a  good  idea 
of  how  to  rig  up  a  temporary  "  live-cell "  for  the 
employment  of  powers  ranging  up  to  and  including 
a   quarter-inch.      You   get  a   glass  strip,  and   one 


€ir 


f2:' 


€L 


€L 


Fig.  265  — Ditto,  side  view. 


of  the  thin  round  glass  rings  sold  by  all  dealers  in 
microscopical  materials.  Then  snip  a  bit  out  of 
the  ring  (indeed,  properly  prepared  snipped  rings 
can  be  got  at  about  a  shilling  the  quarter-ounce, 
which  will  contain  hundreds).     Place  this  snipped 


SMALL  FRY. 


203 


ring  on  the  strip,  then  a  drop  or  two  of  the  water 
containing  objects  to  be  examined,  and  over  all 
a  cover-glass.     If  the  snipped  cell  is  not  too  thick, 


Fig.  266. — Water-flea  {Daphnia  vetula),  female.     The  natural  size 
is  shown  by  the  figure  in  the  circle. 

the  whole  will  hold  together  by  the  cohesiveness 

caused  by  the  moisture  ;  if  it  is  rather  thick,  you 

can  easily  clinch  them  by  a  bit  of  wire  {a). 
10 


204 


THE  PLAYTIME   NATURALIST. 


The    first    things    obtained    in    the    pond    were 
the  httle  entomostracans,  better  known  as  "  water- 


Fig.  267.  — Daph  nia  pidex. 

fleas,"  which  abound  in  all  still  waters — some- 
times to  such  an  extent  as  to  give  the  water  a 
dark  and  cloudy  colour.      If  the  collecting  bottle 


SMALL  FRY. 


205 


containing  them  be  held  up  to  the  hght,  you  can 
perceive  them  with  the  naked  eye,  fussing  and 
jerking  about  in  almost  ridiculous  movements,  in 
company  with  their  near  relatives,  the  cyclops. 
These    common    "  water-fleas "    are     among    the 


Fig.  268. — Daphnia  pulex, 
male. 


Fig.  269.  — Daphnia  ptdex, 
female. 


oldest  existing  kinds  of  creatures  in  the  world. 
Their  genealogy  can  be  traced  backwards  in  an 
unbroken  line,  through  every  geological  period 
beyond  the  Carboniferous.  They  were  as  common 
in  the  standing  pools  surrounded   by  the  strange 


206 


THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST 


vegetation  of  which  our  coal  was  formed  as 
they  are  now  in  an  English  pond  or  lake.  The 
covering  of  these  lowly  organized  crustaceans 
is  chiefly  cJiitinous — a  substance  which  is  very 
durable.  This  covering  is  like  a  swan-mussel, 
fastened  on  one  side  and  free  on  the  other ;  and 
it  is  usually  so  thin  and  transparent  that  all  the 
bodily  organs   are  visible    through  it.     The   gills 


Fig.  2']o.—Daphma  reticulata,         Fig.  2^1.— Daphnia  mucronata, 
male.  female. 

are  worked  by  the  movements  of  the  feet,  and  are 
exquisitely  graceful  objects.  When  these  creatures 
die,  their  thin  shells  fall  down  to  the  bottom  among 
the  mud. 

In  many  of  the  black  shales  overlying  our 
English  coal-seams  (all  of  which  were  once  fine, 
soft  black  mud),  you  may  see  the  surfaces  strewn 
with  myriads  of  the  fossil  shells  of  the  tiny  water- 
fleas  which  lived  millions  of  years  ago. 


SMALL   FRY.  207 

There  are  several  species  met  with  in  our  lakes 
and  ponds.  The  male  and  female  differ  from  each 
other  sometimes  in  a  very  marked  manner.  The 
eyes  of  such  genera  as  Daphnia  are  very  remark- 
able, and  very  beautiful.  The  structure  of  the 
mouth  is  also  peculiar.  The  female  can  be 
immediately  detected  by  the  eggs  seen  within 
the  semi-transparent  carapace. 

Willie  was  successful  in  dissecting  and  mounting 
one  of  the  compound  eyes  of  a  daphnia,  so  as  to 
show  the  lenses,  the  optic  nerves,  etc.,  the  result 
being  as  is  shown  in  the  figure. 

There  is  quite  a  rage  just  now  for  collecting  the 
lower  kinds  of  fresh-water  crustaceans  in  our  lakes 
and  reservoirs,  as  well  as  in  large  ponds.  They 
are  dredged  slowly,  with  a  fine  muslin  surface-net, 
the  inside  surface  of  which  is  carefully  washed 
when  hauled  in.  It  is  surprising  to  see  the  number 
and  the  exquisite  beauty  of  the  perfectly  trans- 
parent and  glass-like  minute  crustaceans  obtained 
in  this  manner. 

But  of  all  the  interesting  and  even  amusing 
creatures  of  this  extensive  class  give  me  the 
Cyclops.  It  is  a  standing  favourite  among  micro- 
scopists.  Here  is  the  female,  with  her  highly 
sensitive   antennae,    and    her    single    large    round 


208 


THE   PLAYTIME   NATURALIST. 


cluster   of  compound  eyes  right   in  front  of  what 


Fig.  272.— Eyes  of  water-flea,  ca.  Functional  cornea  ;  fg,  pigment; 
og,  optic  ganglion  ;  cl,  lenses  ;  oc,  simple  eye  ;  zV,  inferior  muscle ; 
cs  represents  aqueous  humour. 


SMALL  FRY. 


209 


one  is  inclined  to  call  her  forehead.  Behind  her 
she  trails  two  crowded  egg-bags,  one  on  each  side 
resembling  in  shape  the  long  silk  purses  our 
grandfathers  used  to  carry.  It  is  on  account  of 
the  round  cluster  of  eyes  that  these  creatures 
have  been  called  cyclops,  after  the  fabulous  one- 
eyed  monster  of  Greek  mythology. 


Fig.  273. — Cyclops  qiiadricornis.     a.  Young. 

The  recently  hatched  cyclops  is  a  comical  little 
fellow.  At  first  it  has  only  three  pairs  of  legs, 
and  it  moves  about  with  a  series  of  cranky 
jerks,  first  on  one  side  and  then  the  other,  as  if 
aware  it  has  not  yet  got  all  the  legs  which  pro- 
perly belong  to  its  class.  If  its  motions  h^id 
been  specially  designed  to  afford  laughter,  they 
could  not  be  more  successful.     You  may  be  sure 


210 


THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 


my  young  friends  used  to  make  the  most  of  this 
pantomime. 

After  a  short  time  of  feeding,  however,  the 
young  Cyclops  moulted,  and  assumed  another 
shape.  A  ioxN  more  months,  and  it  resembled  its 
parent,  male  or  female,  as  the  case  may  be.  The 
male  can  always  be  distinguished  by  the  absence 
of  the  two  egg-bags. 

What  tribes  of  creatures  carry  on  their  lives  in 

these  quiet  ponds ! 
Thousands  of  mil- 
lions of  ardentlvcom- 
peting,  voiceless  crea- 
tures are  thrown  into 
each  other's  com- 
pany. Our  over- 
populated  European 
cities  are  as  barren 
places  in  comparison  with  the  closely  packed  fauna 
of  a  single  standing  pool. 

Even  the  "  green  scum  "  which  mantles  its  sur- 
face has  a  special  character  and  history  of  its  own. 
Look  at  these  brilliant  green  duck-weeds  (Lemna), 
for  instance.  They  are  real  flowering-plants, 
although  they  are  so  small,  and  all  the  mineral 
matter  they  require  is   derived   by  the  absorbent 


Fig.  274. — Duck-weed  {Lemna 
minor). 


SMALL   FRY. 


21  I 


action  of  that  comparatively  long,  thread-like  root 
hanging  down,  and  which  is  provided  with  a 
spongy  tip  for  the  purpose.  Similar  duck-weeds 
were  covering  the  surfaces  of  extinct  American 
lakes  before  the  Eocene  period,  for  they  have  been 
fossilized  in  the  Dacotah  beds  of  that  country, 
formed  in  the  long  interval  between  the  chalk 
strata  and  the   London  clay.     Consequently,  this 


Fig.  275. — Hydra  viridis,  attached  to  duck-weed  rootlets. 


common  class  of  the  simplest  structured  of  all 
flowering-plants  must  have  been  continuously  in 
existence  for  several  millions  of  years  at  the  least. 

The  duck-weed  root-threads  are  capital  con- 
veniences for  many  kinds  of  fresh-water  micro- 
scopic animals.     You  will  find  colonies  of  Vorti- 


212  THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST 

cella  attached  to  them,  or  one  or  two  species  of 
hydra  hanging  from  them.  The  latter  are  among 
the  most  interesting  of  all  fresh-water  objects ; 
perhaps  they  represent  the  ancestral  types  of  those 
common  seaside  objects,  the  corallines,  sea-firs, 
etc.,  and  even  some  of  the  branched  limey  corals 
of  tropical  regions. 

The  commonest  species  is  Hydra  vulgaris.  An- 
other, Hydra  viridis,  w^ants  some  looking  for,  as 
its  green  colour  conceals  it  from  view  among  the 


/..  •if^-^--^\.  si'/    W     V.'S 

I.      }fi\  ||^il 


^ss.S 


Fig.  276. — First  stage  in  development  of  hydra. 

water-weeds.  It  varies  from  one-eighth  to  a 
quarter  of  an  inch  in  length.  Perhaps  you  may 
get  a  compound  specimen,  as  shown  in  Fig.  276, 
where  the  young  hydrse  have  attained  the  size 
when  they  become  detached  from  the  parent  body ; 
or  the  parent  body  will  be  roughened  with  wart- 
like prominences,  and  even  knobs.  You  may 
even  be  fortunate  enough  to  catch  one  of  these 
knobs  budding  with  four  tentacles,  and  watch  it 


SMALL  FRY. 


213 


thenceforward    until   it   sets    up    an    independent 


L- 


;^>-i:';"t 


h 


Tx'g.  277.— Hydra  (magnified),  showing  prominences. 
a,  b.  Eruptions. 


214 


THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 


existence  for  itself.  Even  then  your  observations 
are  not  over.  You  behold  the  number  of  tentacles 
increasing  ;  you  even  witness  the  strange  and 
almost    magical    manner   in   which   the    hydra — a 


\  i 


Fig.  278. — Hydra  attacking  a  water-flea. 

creature  of  lower  organization  —  benumbs  and 
secures  such  complexer  and  nimbler  creatures  as 
water-fleas  (Fig.  278).     The  secret  of  this  benumb- 


SMALL  FRY. 


215 


ing  power  is  shown  in  Fig.  279,  where  the  arrow- 
headed  stings,  or  "  urticating  threads,"  are  seen. 
These  stinging  threads  are  Hke  those  possessed 
by  near  relatives  of  the  hydras,  the  stinging 
marine  jelly-fishes. 


5^  K^  ^>/  ^ 


Fig.  279. — Arrow-headed  stings  of 
hydra,  a,  Expanded  ;  b^  at  rest 
(highly  magnified). 


oo  a 


Fig.  280. — Young  hydra  a 
few  days  after  leavin  g 
the  ova. 


Hydrae  also  reproduce  their  kind  by  means  of 
eggs,  which,  when  fertilized  by  spermatozoa,  sink 
to  the  bottom  of  the  pond.     There  they  hatch,  and 


2l6  THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 

the   first   appearance    of  a  young  hydra   hatched 
from  the  egg-  is  shown  in  Fig.  280. 

It  was  usual  during  their  dredging  excursions 
to  put  the  "  best  finds  "  in  special  bottles.  The 
lads  always  took  care,  if  there  was  anything 
attached  to  a  leaf  or  stem,  to  snip  the  latter  off 
without  disturbing  the  creature,  and  drop  it  into 
the  collecting-bottle.  It  was  in  this  way  they 
found  that  exceedingly  lovely  and  not  uncommon 
object,  the  fresh-water  polyzoon  Plumatella.  This 
colony  of  relatively  highly  organized  animals  bear 
the  same  relation  to  the  sea-mats  (Flustra,  Mem- 
branipora,  etc.),  of  our  seaside  that  the  hydra 
does  to  the  sea-firs  (Sertularia).  Their  name  of 
polyzoa,  or  "  many-creatured,"  is  in  allusion  to 
their  habit  of  living  together  in  colonies. 

The  Plumatella  is  not  the  only  group  of  its 
kind.  There  are  also  the  equally  lovely  genera, 
Fredericella,  Cristatella,  Paludicella,  etc.  All  of 
them  possess  nervous  structures  and  an  elaborate 
and  specialized  mouth-apparatus  for  creating 
currents  in  the  water — producing  microscopical 
whirlpools,  in  short — the  centre  of  which  leads 
into  the  mouth,  and  sweeps  all  the  living  prey 
directly  into  it.  Fig.  281  shows  a  group  of 
several  of  these  associated  animals,  some  with  the 


SMALL  FRY. 


217 


highly    elaborated    tentacles    thrust    forth,    others 
as   they   appear  when  withdrawn    into   the  body- 


Fig.  281. — Fresh-water  polyzoan  {Lophopus  cryslalUna),  magnified. 


2l8 


THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 


mass  all  have  in  common.  The  latter  is  so  trans- 
parent that  you  can  behold  the  entire  physiological 
structure  and  economical  arrangement  of  the 
colony.  When  half  a  score  of  these  creatures 
have  put  out  their  crescent-shaped  "  lophophores," 
the  sight  is  like  that  of  some  fairy  flower-garden. 


Fig.  282.— The  tunic  of  dead  polyp  filled  with  statoblasts, 

or  winter  eggs. 

These  fresh-water  Polyzoa  have  three  methods  of 
reproduction — by  eggs,  buds,  and  statoblasts.  The 
latter  are  ''winter  eggs,"  and  they  are  usually 
secreted  within  the  body  of  the  polypes.  The 
polypes  die,  and  for  a  time  act  as  a  shelter  for 
these  winter  eggs.  The  heat  of  the  returning 
spring  decomposes  the  body,  sets  the  winter  eggs 


SMALL   FRY. 


219 


free,  and  by-and-by  hatches  them.  Each  polyzoan 
colony,  therefore,  begins  with  a  single  individual 
hatched  from  the  ^g^. 


Fig.  283.— Statoblasts,  or  winter  eggs,  of  Plumatella  developing. 

How    my    young    friends 
worked  during  those  summer 
holidays !     Only  it  was  not 
called  work.    It  is  calling  any  ^^g^   ^Z^^Cristatdia 
occupation  by  that  name,  and 


mw 


cedo  (natural  size). 


220 


THE  PLAYTIME   NATURALIST. 


making  people  work  at  it  a  fixed  number  of  hours 
a  day,   which  disgusts  them.     Call  any  real  hard 


work  sport,  or  recreation,  or  anything  of  that  sort, 


SMALL  FRY. 


221 


and  all  of  us  are  ready  to  stick  to  it  till  we  nearly 
drop — that  is,  if  we  like  it. 

So,  although  I  am  trying  to  lump  each  lot  of 
their  "  finds  "  separately,  just  for  order's  sake,  and 
to  act  generally  as  a  recording  scribe  and  scientific 
secretary  for  my  young  friends,  I  find  it  difficult 
not  to  get  things  a  little  mixed.  For,  when  the 
lads  were  getting  Polyzoa,  they  were  also  netting 


Fig.  286. — Paludicella  siiUana  (natural  size). 

water-worms,  larvse  of  aquatic  insects,  and  vast 
numbers  of  those  singular  creatures  known  as  the 
"  wheel  animalcules,"  or  Rotifers.  The  latter  were 
everywhere,  voracious  and  active,  roaming  about 
like  microscopic  lions  seeking  what  they  could 
devour.  All  of  them  are  nearly  quite  transparent, 
but  some  just  faintly  tinted  with  pink,  or  opal  blue, 
or  white.  As  busy  as  bees,  or  rather  ants,  every- 
where.    Most  of  them  swam  so  rapidly  that  they 


222 


THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 


came  and  went  before  you  got  the  note  of  admira- 
tion out  of  your  mouth  !    Then  an  individual  would 


Fig.  287. — Pahidicella  sultana  enlarged,  showing  polypes. 


iiMALL  FRY. 


223 


Fig.  288.— Group  of  Plumatella  (enlarged). 


224 


THE  PLAYTIME   NATURALIST. 


boldly  crawl  or  slowly  swim  right  up  to  the  inner 
surface  of  the  glass  trough,  as  if  it  were  looking 
through  one  end  of  the  microscope  at  you,  whilst 
you   were   gazing   through   the    other   end    at   it. 


Fig.  289. — Melicerta  ringens  (magnified). 

You  could  plainly  see  the  "  whorls "  round  the 
mouth  seeming  to  rotate  like  so  many  cogged 
wheels.  This  rotation  is  only  apparent,  not  real. 
It  is  caused  by  each  of  the  hairs  or  cilia  bend- 
ing or  moving   rapidly  in  succession.     Why,  our 


SMALL   FRY. 


225 


own  eyelids  would  appear  to  rotate  if  each  of  the 
eyelashes  of  the  opened  eyelids,  upper  and  lower, 
behaved  in  the  same  way. 

But  many  kinds  of  rotifers  were  observed  to  be 


Fig.  290. — Stephanoceros 
just  emerged. 


Fig.  291. — First  formation  of 
tube. 


stationary.  They  were  fixed  to  weeds,  or  bits  of 
fine  withered  stems,  or  something  of  that  kind. 
Not  a  few  of  them  had  a  sort  of  sheath  into  which 
they  could  retreat  when  danger  threatened  ;   and 


Fig.  292. — Resting  period. 


Fig.  293. — Appearance 
later  on. 


at  least  one  kind,  and  that  one  of  the  very  loveliest, 
made  a  tube  of  round  pellets  out  of  its  own 
rejected  food-materials !  I  allude  to  Melicerta 
ringens. 


226 


THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST 


Stephanoceros  eichornii  is  one  of  the  commonest 
of  these  sessile  and  tubed  wheel-animalcules. 
Recently  its  history  has  been  written  and  published 
in  Science-Gossip  by  Mr.  W.  H.  Harris,  from  the 
Q^g%  stage  to  that  of  the  tubed  or  enthroned  and 


Fig.  294. — Stephanoceros 
eichornii  after  fifty-six 
hours'  hatching. 

Fig.  295. — Later  development. 

dignified  adult.  I  ^\v^  illustrations  of  these  several 
stages  of  development  from  the  ^^^.  At  first, 
the  young  Stephanoceros  is  a  free  swimmer,  from 
which   it  appears   the  sessile   state   is  an  advance 


a 


Fig.  296. —Suspected  male.       Scale  =  1000  inch 
a.  Pear-shaped  cavity. 

on  the  locomotive  or  free-swimming  state.  From 
the  time  when  a  young  StepJidnoceros  eichornii 
animalcule  is  born,  until  the  time  when  it  acquires 


SMALL  FRY. 


227 


the  dignity  and    importance  of   parenthood  itself, 
ranges   from  five  to  nine   days,  evidently  varying 


Fig.  297.  —Stephanoceros  eichornii  (magnified) 


II 


228 


THE  PLAYTIME   NATURALIST. 


I       V, 


RUHPIS 


Fig.  298. — Floscularia  cormtta  (magnified). 


SMALL   FRY. 


229 


with  the  heat — an  average  of  six  and    one-third 
days. 

You  will  see  by  the  picture  that  possibly  only 
the  female  rotifers  are  sessile.  The  males  are 
free  ;    perhaps  they  prefer  it !     But,  at  any  rate. 


Fig.    300.  —  Euchlanis 
(animal  retracted). 


Fig.  299. — Rotifer 
vulgaris  (magni- 
fied). 


Fig.  301. — Amiro'a  Icp- 
todon  (magnified). 


their  wives  can  upbraid  them  when  they  come 
home  with  the  fact  that  they  belong  to  a  lower 
stage  of  rotifer-life,  and  not  a  higher.  Perhaps 
this  pleases  both  sexes.     The  males  remain  content 


230 


THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 


to  wander  fancy  free,   and  the    females  to   enjoy 
their  superior  position.     Who  knows  ? 


Fig.  302. — Cohirus  uncinaftis  (magnified),  a,  Dorsal  view;  b, 
side  view,  animal  swimming ;  c,  side  view,  cilia  retracted  ; 
d,  ventral  view  of  lorica. 


Fig.     304. — Young    of 
SynchcBta  longipes. 


Fig.  IPZ.—SynchcEta  longipes  (magnified). 


SMALL  I<RY. 


231 


Fig.  305. — Euchlanis  (exserted). 


Fig.  306. — Colonis  dejlexiis.     a,  Side  view  ;  b,  dorsal  view. 


232 


THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 


Among  the  most  queenly  looking  of  these  sessile 
rotifers    is   the    crown    animalcule   {Stephaiioceros), 


Fig.  307. — Masiigocerca  bicristata  (magnified). 

with    its    transparent    glass-like    sheath,   through 
which  you  can  clearly  trace  her  majesty  even  when 


SMALL   FRY.  233 

she  has  retired  from  public  view  ;  the  "  Floscule  " 
{Floscuiarza  cormtta)  ;  and  others.  Among  the 
commonest  of  the  "  free  rovers  "  and  never-settlers- 
down,  here,  there,  everywhere,  making  every 
zoophyte-trough  as  lively  as  a  ballroom  with  their 
goings-on,  are  the  common  rotifer  {Rotifer  vul- 
gaiHs),  Synchaeta,  Euchlanis,  Colorus,  Mastigocerca, 
and  others.  In  most  instances  it  was  observed 
that  the  males  and  females  possessed  distinctive 
characters,  and  that  the  females  seemed  to  out- 
number the  males.  Indeed,  in  the  case  of  many 
common  female  rotifers,  we  don't  know  who  their 
husbands  are,  or  what  they  are  like. 


234  THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 


CHAPTER     XI. 

INVISIBLE   LIFE. 

• 

"  I  SAY,"  said  Jack  Hampson  to  his  friends,  "suppose 
those  wild  rotifer  beggars  were  really  as  big  as 
they  looked  in  the  microscope,  wouldn't  people  be 
frightened  ?  " 

"  You  should  see  them  living  in  a  thin  zoophyte- 
trough  and  magnified,  and  their  images  thrown  on 
a  screen,  like  the  pictures  in  a  magic  lantern ! 
You've  no  idea  how  horrid  they  look.  I've  heard 
elderly  gentlemen  say  they  would  never  drink 
water  any  more,  when  they  saw  them,"  said  Willie. 

"  Perhaps  they  didn't  drink  much  before,"  re- 
marked his  friend. 

But  there  remained  over  for  observation  a  vast, 
unnamed,  and  unrecognized  army  of  living  beings, 
fellow-creatures,  sitters-down  at  the  same  wonder- 
ful providential  table  as  ourselves,  remaining  to 
be  recognized  and  identified  ;  not  a  few-^perhaps 
most   of  them — the  Lazaruses  which   devour  the 


INVISIBLE   LIFE.  235 

crumbs  that  fall  from  Dives'  tables,  and  so  keep 
the  floors  of  the  houses  in  which  the  latter  dwell, 
all  the  cleaner. 

One  evening  they  were  examining  under  the 
microscope  a  hydra  they  had  found  that  morning. 
They  were  not  thinking  of  anything  but  the  hydra, 
and  were  looking  at  it  in  turns,  when  Jack  suddenly 
said — 

"  What  are  these  little  brutes  runninsr  all  over 
its  body  ?  They  look  like  new  telegraph  messengers 
who  don't  know  where  to  deliver  their  telegrams." 

Willie  rushed  to  the  instrument  at  once.  There 
was  a  half-inch  objective  on,  rather  high  for  a 
hydra.  After  a  minute  or  two's  careful  examina- 
tion, Willie  said,  "  Oh,  it's  an  infusorian  ! " 

"  What's  an  '  infusorian  '  ?"  said  one  of  the  group 
"  You  speak  as  if  you  knew  the  whole  family.  Did 
they  come  over  with  William  the  Conqueror  t " 

Willie  was  not  a  jokist,  so  he  said,  "  No ;  they 
were  here  before  William  the  Conqueror's  time." 

"  Then  tell  us  all  about  them,  or,  at  least,  all  you 
know  about  them." 

"  Well,"  said  the  earnest  lad  and  truthful,  "  that 
isn't  much ;  but,  at  any  rate,  I'll  tell  you  all  I've 
known  and  heard  about  them  from  dad." 

So  he  proceeded  to  relate   how   the    Infusoria, 


236  THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST, 

were  a  class  of  the  lowest  organized  of  living 
creatures,  and  probably  the  very  oldest  in  the 
world,  only,  having  no  shells  or  other  solid  parts, 
they  were  not  geologically  represented  in  the  oldest 
strata,  although  some  very  nearly  allied  relatives 
of  theirs  were,  which  happened  to  be  possessed  of 
such  things — the  Foraminifera,  to  wit.  But  even 
as  regards  them,  the  Amoebae  were  more  nearly 
related,  he  said. 

"  What  are  the  Amoebae  ?  Are  they  girls  ?  It 
sounds  like  a  girl's  name,"  remarked  one  of  the 
newly  arrived  and  irreverent  cousins. 

"  They  are  girls  and  boys  both,"  replied  the 
youthful  savant,  "  for  they  are  neither  male  nor 
female." 

"  Why  can't  you  call  these  things  by  names  that 
people  understand,  instead  of  using  such  jaw- 
breaking  names  as  Infusoria  ?     What  are  they  ?  " 

"  You  ask  me  two  different  questions  at  once, 
but  I  think  I  can  put  you  right.  '  Infusoria '  is  an 
old  word  really,  given  to  all  sorts  of  exceedingly 
minute  living  objects  found  in  water.  It  was 
discovered  that  when  there  was  an  infusion  of  any 
organic  matter,  such  as  decomposing  vegetation,  the 
nasty  water  soon  swarmed  with  myriads  of  these 
objects.     People  used  to  believe  they  were  bred  by 


INVISIBLE  LIFE.  237 

the  stagnation,  and  that  they  were  spontaneous  or 
self-created  generations.  They  were  only  found 
abundantly  where  such  decaying  substances  were 
mixed  with  water — in  infusions.  So  they  came  to 
be  called  Infusoria.  The  decaying  materials  are 
their  food  ;  you  couldn't  keep  them  in  absolutely 
pure  water,  for  there  would  be  nothing  in  it  for 
them  to  live  on,  and  they  w^ould  die  of  starvation." 

"  Then,  do  you  mean  to  say  these  things  clear 
the  water  ?  " 

"  If  it  were  not  for  their  clearing  the  water  by 
devouring  the  amazing  quantities  of  decaying  animal 
and  vegetable  substances  it  contained,  the  world 
would  soon  be  unfit  for  larger  and  much  more 
highly  organized  creatures  to  live  in  it,  that's  all. 
These  minute  living  things  are  the  scavengers  of 
the  Almighty!" 

Then  it  was  explained  how,  half  a  century  ago, 
when  any  minute  thing  was  seen  moving  or 
wriggling  in  water  under  microscopical  exami- 
nation, it  was  set  down  as  an  animalcule,  for 
people  then  regarded  locomotion  as  an  essentially 
animal  function.  How,  for  this  reason,  in  such 
books  as  Pritchard's  "History  of  British  Infu- 
soria," the  zoospores  of  sea-weeds,  and  similar 
structures  connected  with  mosses,  ferns,  etc.,  were 


238 


THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 


put  down  as  "  infusorial  animalculae,"  because  they 
could  swim   and  move  about.     Of  course,  this  is 


all  set  right  now. 


Fig.  308. — Vaginicola  extended  and  withdrawn  (magnified). 


Fig-  309. — Vaginicola  after  fission  (magnified). 

But  the  remarkable  fact  remains  that  very  prob- 
ably every  animal  organism,  not  excepting  man, 


INVISIBLE  LIFE. 


239 


begins    life   in    an   infusorial    stage.      That    is  the 
"  narrow  wicket-gate." 

The  hydras  were  the  subject  of  amusing  obser- 
vation in  the  evenings  on  account  of  the  pecu- 
liar movements  of  their  snake-like  tentacles,  and 
the  rapid  skating  over  the  surfaces  of  their  bodies 


.^/m^m% 


-^^^g^^a/101 


Fig.    311. — Infusorial 
parasite  of  hydra. 


Fig.  310. — Amoeba  villosa. 

by  the  aforesaid  animalcules,  or  "parasites."  It 
was  seen  that  the  organs  of  locomotion  possessed 
by  the  latter  were  eyelash-like  hairs  {cilia)y  or 
prolongations  of  the  transparent  body-substance 
drawn  out  into  short  short  sensitive  threads. 

"Well,"  remarked  one  of  the  sceptics,  "I've 
heard  of  a  fellow  *  hanging  on  by  his  eyelids/  but 
never  of  his  walking  on  them  before,  much   less 


240  THE   PLAYTIME   NATURALIST. 

swimming  with  them.  But,  according  to  your  tale, 
that  is  what  they  do  with  their  ciha,  and  cilia 
means  '  eyelashes.' " 

Somebody  remarked    that  it  was   just  possible 
there  were  several   other  things  the  gentle  youth 


'.  ■   •,   ■  •  • 

/;:::'6;^; 

'.'.  >'   ••  .*^ 

"^^A 

/;••'•.  •'.'•;; 

;•'•  V'l' ■'•';'• 

\,;';«  i       •  •, 

»';'*'•  ':'  '.  ?.■•■' 

.•"■•;.■  o-lv/' 

:;•.',•  O.V:     , 

'^yu:?.-M-. 

'.*•  *   *  •      *       *V  n»  * 

.•■'■.  Vc. ''.■■.•' 

■V'.-  .•■••  :' o ■:'•'•'' 


,-   e> 


X 


Fig.  312. — Amoeba  with  compound  pseudopodia. 

had  never  heard  of  before,  which  he  probably 
would  hear  of  before  he  was  as  old  again — that  is, 
if  he  kept  his  ears  open. 

The  amoeba  seemed  to  be  the  chief  favourite. 
Willie  repeated  the  speculations  he  had  heard 
when  his  father  had  one  or  two  savans  to  supper — 


INVISIBLE  LIFE. 


241 


how  probable  it  was  that  the  amoeba  really  repre- 
sents the  first  animals  that  came   into  this  world. 


Fig-  313. — Jelly  animalcules  {Ophyridium  versatile).  I,  Group  in 
gelatinous  envelope  ;  2,  3,  4,  separate  individuals  in  dificrent 
conditions  ;  5,  6,  head  magnified  ;  7,  young  animalcule  produced 
by  gemmation  ;  9,  swimming  animalcule. 

How  the    Foraminifera,  which   had    formed   lime- 


242 


THE  PLAYTIME   NATURALIST. 


Stone  and  chalk  strata  thousands  of  feet  in  thick- 
ness, were  in  reality  only  amoebse  with  limey  skins  ; 
how  the  white  corpuscles  in  the  blood  of  man  and 
other  animals  could  hardly  be  distinguished  from 
them  ;  and  how  many  of  the  fungi  (Myxomycetes) 
began  life  practically  as  amoebae  ; — indeed,  how 
this  lowly  organized  stage  of  structure  was  so 
common  in  the  animal  and  vegetable  kingdoms, 
that  the  word  "  amoeboid "  had  been  coined  and 
was  in  constant  use,  to  express  the  fact. 


Fig.  314. — Actinophrys  sol. 

These  amoebae  were  everywhere,  said  the  books 
they  referred  to.  But  it  was  a  long  time  before 
they  found  one;  afterwards  they  found  any  quantity. 
Jack  and  Will  were  dreadfully  anxious  to  discover 
these  abounding  amoebae,  and  could  not  find  one — 
which,  of  course,  made  them  all  the  more  eager  in 
hunting. 

Still,  they  failed  to  find  an  amoeba.  The  fact 
was,  they  didn't  know  what  to  look  for.     So  they 


INVISIBLE  LIFE.  243 

wrote  to  their  old  (or  rather  young)  professor, 
as  they  always  did  when  they  came  to  a  sudden 
stop. 

He  replied  that  the  amoebae  looked  more  like 
minute  irregular  splashes  of  transparent  water, 
spilled  on  the  outside  of  the  glass  trough,  than 
anything  else.  They  were  merely  specks  of  trans- 
parent, living  jelly — almost  exactly  like  the  raw 


Fig.  316. — Kerona  polypornm. 


I^ig-  315-  — Ac/moph  rys 
acideata. 


white  of  e^^ ;  only  they  could  move  about  as 
they  liked,  and  a  speck  of  white  of  ^gg  could 
not.  The  best  plan  for  catching  amoebae,  he  said, 
was  to  lower  a  zoophyte-trough  down  into  the 
aquarium  at  night  Then  haul  it  up  next  morning; 
they  would  find  plenty  of  amoebae  in  it. 

The  boys  did  so,  and  were  delighted  in  "  spotting  " 
their  first  amoebae.  After  that  they  found  them 
everywhere — "  all  over  the  shop,"  Jack  said.  They 
watched   them  slowly  moving   towards  a  decom- 


244 


THE   PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 


posing  bit  of  animal  or  vegetable  matter ;  then 
pouring  themselves  over  it  as  if  they  were  merely 
animated  gum,  until  the  dainty  morsel  was  inside 
the  amoeba — which  is  where  food  ought  to  be.  So, 
if  these  singular  animals  have  neither  mouths  nor 
stomachs  to  introduce  their  food  into,  they  manage 


^^g-  Z^l' — Various  stages  in  the  development  oi Eiiglena  viridis. 

to  put  themselves  outside  their  food — and  I  believe 
that  is  the  chief  end  of  animal  life. 

Then  there  were  the  Infusoria  to  be  caught  and 
watched.  They  soon  learned  that  the  discoloration 
of  any  pond-water,  or  even  of  lake  and  sea -water 


INVISIBLE  LIFE.  245 

was  due  to  them.  They  cause  the  summer  phos- 
phorescence of  the  sea,  and  the  remarkable  green, 
brown,  and  reddish  tints  seen  in  most  natural 
waters  at  times.  They  found  the  water  of  one 
pool  quite  brown,  and  a  microscopical  examination 
proved  that  it  was  entirely  due  to  swarms  of  a 
special  kind  of  infusorian  known  as  Peridinium. 
Another  pond  possessed  a  vivid  green-coloured 
water,  and  this  they  soon  proved  was  owing  to 
the  countless  numbers  of  Eiiglena  viridis  in  it — 
a  pretty  green  infusorian,  with  a  brilliant  red 
"eye-spot"  (Fig.  317). 

Further,  they  speedily  discovered  that  the  In- 
fusoria, like  the  Rotifera,  could  be  separated  into 
"  free-swimming "  and  "  sessile,"  and  that  the 
earliest  life-stages  of  the  latter  resembled  the 
former. 

They  found  out  the  exquisitely  shaped  "  Greek 
vases"  of  the  Vaginicola,  more  transparent  than 
any  glass,  into'  which  the  dainty  microscopical 
marvels  withdrew  themselves  at  will.  They  dis- 
covered the  still  more  beautiful  clusters  and 
colonies  of  Vorticellae,  like  bunches  of  lilies,  and 
watched  their  sensitive  stalks  twist  and  untwist 
like  living  corkscrews.  They  knew  now  what 
those    strange   tufts    were    on    the   heads    of  the 


246 


THE  PLAYTIME   NATURALIST. 


water-fleas  (Daphnia),  and  that  they  were  stalked 
infusorians  allied  to  the  Vorticellse,  called  Epistylis. 


M^iWc 


Fig.  318. — Vorticella  ncbidifera,  showing  development  of  individual 

stages  A  to  F  (e  and  f  free). 


INVISIBLE  LIFE. 


247 


They  even  made  out  the  different  stages  of  develop- 
ment of   many  of   these  lowly   organized  objects 


^'ig*  319- — ^Various  stages  in  development  of  Epistylis,  semi-parasitic 

on  water-fleas. 

— their   larval,    resting,    and    adult   conditions — in 
many  cases   differing  so   much   from   one  another 


248 


THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST 


that  they  have  been  figured  and  described  as 
distinct  species,  and  as  altogether  different  creatures. 
What  a  host  of  things  of  this  kind  there  are ! 
Sluggish  Actinophrys,  or  "  sun  -  animalcules  " 
(difficult  to  be  distinguished  from  the  resting 
stages  of  other  infusoria),  clusters  and   crowds  of 


Fig.  320. — Ovarium  of  fresh-water  sponge.      ^,  Growth  of  spiculae; 
/,  sarcode  festoons  on  ditto  ;  g,  mouth  ;  //,  incurrent  pores. 

certain  kinds  which  seem  to  be  born,  or  rather  to 
be  reared,  together — microscopical  ''baby-farming;" 
fresh-water  sponges  {^Spoiigilla  fluviatilis),  dredged 
up  from  the  bed  of  the  river,  clinging  to  and 
covering  up  dead  twigs  with  their  greenish  gela- 
tinous matter.  The  ovaries,  or  egg-bearing 
chambers,  of  the  latter  were  found  ;  also   the  re- 


INVISIBLE  LIFE. 


249 


markably  beautiful    spicules    which    encase    them. 
The   young    of    these    fresh-water    sponges    were 


Fig.  321. — Rotate  or  wheel-shaped  spiculas.      b  support  the  outer 

membrane  ;  r,  inner  ditto. 

obtained  and  reared,  and  a  good  deal  of  the  life- 
history  of  this  interesting  and  instructive  animal, 
or  rather  colony  of 
animals,  was  made  out 
in  the  course  of  obser- 
vation and  investiga- 
tion. 

Don't  suppose  for 
one  moment  that  all 
these  discoveries  were 
made  by  my  young 
friends  without  ex- 
ternal help.  On  the  contrary,  they  had  plenty  ' 
of  assistance  ;  as  every  young  naturalist  will  find 


Fig.  322. — Actmophrys  eicJiornii. 


250  THE   PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 

he  can  get,  if  he  is  only  in  earnest.  For  there  is  a 
brotherhood  among  naturalists  like  that  among 
artists,  but  without  anything  of  its  jealousy. 
The  boys  got  letters  from  Willie's  dad,  from  the 
professor,  from  the  editor  of  Science-Gossip  (to 
whom  they  consigned  loads  of  specimens),  and 
others.     It  was  awfully  jolly  while  it  lasted. 


CHAPTER   XII. 

MICROSCOPIC    PLANTS 


'3 


The  longest  of  summer  holidays  comes  to  an 
end.  Ours  were  now  over,  and  the  boys  had 
returned  to  school.  Willie  left  a  week  before  Jack, 
to  spend  the  rest  of  his  time  at  home.  You  may 
depend  upon  it,  there  was  much  comparison  of 
captures  and  notes,  and  much  examination  of 
specimens.  The  science-classes  at  the  school  had 
never  been  so  popular  before. 

The  Natural  History  Society  resumed  its  meetings, 
and  fresh  papers  were  read,  some  of  them  dealing 
with  the  captures  of  the  hoHday-time.  Among 
others  was  an  important  paper  on  those  singular 
and  beautiful  microscopical  plants,  the  Desmids 
and  Diatoms.  As  the  autumn  was  not  too  far 
advanced,  the  afternoon  holiday  rambles  were  in 
force,  and  plenty  of  new  "  finds "  made.  They 
could  hardly  wander  a  yard  into  the  country 
without  finding  something  they  had  never  seen  or 

12 


252 


THE  PLAYTIME   NATURALIST. 


known  before— perhaps  the  dense  brownish-black 
fungus  covering  the  under  surfaces  of  the  thistle- 


Fig.  323. — Meadow-sweet  brand. 


Fig.  324. — Star-spored  brand. 


MICROSCOPIC  PLANTS. 


253 


leaves  in  the  pastures  ;  or  that  other  equally 
common  but  different  kind  which  attacks  the 
leaves  of  the  mallow,  and  drills  them  full  of  round 
holes.  There  were  also  the  pretty  fungus,  or 
"  brand,"  of  the  meadow-sweet ;  the  star-shaped 
fungus  found  on  dead  twigs  (Asterosporium) ;   the 


Fig.  325. — Bramble-leaf  brand. 

exquisitely  pretty  bramble-leaf  brand  ;  the  maple- 
blight,  etc.  Among  other  objects  which  could  not 
fail  to  attract  their  attention  were  the  numerous 
glossy  black  spots  on  the  leaves  of  the  sycamore. 
These  were  formerly  believed  to  have  been  caused 
by  drops   of  water   acting   as  lenses  for  the  sun's 


254 


THE  PLAYTIME   NATURALIST. 


heat,  and,  by  focussing  the  heat,  burning  and 
blistering  the  leaves.  But  the  professor  showed 
that  this  fanciful  notion  was  altogether  wrong,  and 
that  the  black  spots  were  due  to  a  peculiar  fungus 
called    Melasmia,    whose    structure   and   character 


Fig.  326. — Maple  blight. 

could  be  made  out  by  cutting  a  section  of  sycamore- 
leaf  across  one  of  the  black  spots. 

Even  more  funny  as  an  explanation  than  the 
above  is  the  assumed  origin  of  the  gelatinous 
masses  found  on  the  gravel  walks  in  our  gardens 
on  September  mornings  {Nostoc  commune).     They 


MICOSCOPIC  PLAVrS. 


255 


Fig.  327. — Sycamore-leaf  with  black  spots  oi  Meiasmia  agerina. 


Fig.  328. — Section  through  leaf,  showing  position  of  the  fungus,  r. 


256 


THE   PLAYTIME   NATURALIST. 


have  actually  been  set  down  as  "  shooting-stars " 
whicn  had  fallen  to  the  earth  during  the  night ! 
A  microscopical  examination,  however,  shows  their 


Fig.  329. — Witches'  butter  {Nostoc  communi). 

neck-beadlike  arrangement  of  cells,  and  establishes 
their  fungoid  structure. 

Some  of  the  boys  had  taken  up  with  the  larger 


O 


O  I  8  o  o 


% 


9 


o 


Fig.  330. — Spores  and  cells  of  ditto  (magnified). 

funguses,  and  were  collecting  them  and  getting 
them  named.  They  got  Mr.  English's  book,  which 
told  them  how  to  preserve  these  objects — hitherto 


MICROSCOPIC  PLANTS. 


257 


SO  exceedingly  difficult  to  preserve — so  as  to  keep 
their  shapes  and  colours,  and  altogether  form  pretty 
ornaments,  when  under  glass  shades,  for  rooms. 
A  large  number  of  specimens  were  got,  which  I 
cannot  stay  to  describe  ;  nor  is  it  necessary,  for 
the  professor  had   in  his  study  those  two  mounted 


c\     r\  fM 


Fig.  3-^1. — Candle-snnfF  fungus  [Xvlaria  hypoxylon). 

and  coloured  sheets  of  "  Edible  "  and  "  Poisonous  " 
fungi  by  Mr.  Worthinf:;-ton  G.  Smith,  which  show 
all  common  kinds  at  a  glance.  One  kind,  however, 
interested  them  much — the  "candle-snuff"  fungus 
{Xylaria  hypoxylon).      Plenty  of  it   was  found   in 


258 


THE   PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 


the  damp  hedge- backings,  and  its  microscopical 
structure  afforded  a  pleasant  evening's  intellectual 
pastime. 

But  the  main  objects  of  the  rambles  in  Sep- 
tember were  to  collect  desmids  before  the  season 
had  advanced  too  far.  It  was  determined  to 
collect  the  diatoms  as   well,  for  both  occur  in  the 

same  tarns  and  ponds,  only 
yon  can  collect  the  latter  at 
any  time  of  the  year,  and  this 
is  hardly  possible  with  the 
desmids  in  the  winter  months. 
As  the  party  walked  on  their 
way,  the  professor  explained 
the  structure  of  the  collecting- 
bottle  he  carried  with  him.  It 
was  merely  a  wide-mouthed, 
one-ounce  bottle,  provided  with  a  turn-back  rim. 
Around  the  latter  was  a  strong  india-rubber  band. 
He  showed  them  he  had  only  to  double  the  elastic 
round  the  end  of  his  walking-stick,  and  he  was 
able  to  push  it  anywhere  along  the  margin  of  the 
pond.  He  had  several  others,  all  provided  with 
close-fitting  corks,  for  specially  keeping  good 
things  in  until  he  could  further  examine  them. 
For   collecting   diatoms   he   was   provided   with  a 


Fig.  332. — Collecting- 
bottle. 


MICROSCOPIC  PLANTS.  259 

more  elaborate  apparatus,  but  the  cleanliness  and 
freedom  from  impurities  with  which  diatoms  could 
be  collected  by  it,  he  said,  made  it  the  best  thing 
of  its  kind  out  ;  and  everybody  could  make  one 
now  that  Mr.  Redmayne  had  shown  them  how. 

This  diatom  collecting-bottle  is  constructed  as 
follows  : — 

A  cork  must  be  provided  which  fits  tightly  to 
the  collecting-bottle  ;  this  is  to  be  bored  with  two 
holes.  In  each  is  fitted  a  glass  tube,  as  seen  in  the 
diagram,  one  {a)  having  a  slight  curve,  the  other 
{U)  bent  at  right  angles  an  inch  from  the  end  ; 
this  can  easily  be  done  with  the  aid  of  a  spirit- 
lamp.  To  tube  b  is  attached  a  piece  of  elastic 
tubing,  about  the  length  of  the  collecting-stick, 
and  the  free  end  {c)  may  be  held  to  the  stick  with 
an  elastic  band,  and  the  apparatus  is  complete. 

It  is  especially  useful  in  collecting  the  very  thin 
films  of  diatoms  from  the  surfaces  of  mud  and 
sand,  so  difficult  to  raise  to  the  surface  of  the  water 
in  the  ordinary  way  with  the  spoon  or  bottle. 

To  use  the  apparatus,  the  thumb  of  the  right 
hand  must  press  the  tube  firmly  against  the  stick 
at  c,  and  the  bottle  be  lowered  until  the  mouth  of 
the  tube  {a)  is  within  a  quarter  of  an  inch  from 
the    surface   of   the   diatoms ;    the  thumb  is   then 


26o 


THE   PLAYTIME   NATURALIST. 


raised,  and  if  the  water  is  deep  the  bottle  fills 
by  atmospheric  pressure,  carrying  the  diatoms  in 
at  the  same  time.  In  shallow  water,  suction  will 
be  necessary  to  exhaust  the  air  in  the  bottle  ;  in 


Fig.  333. — Diatom  collecting-bottle. 

that    case,  a   ball   pipette   (b)  will  be  useful  as  a 
mouthpiece. 

The  gathering  can  be  further  cleaned  by  placing 
it  in  a  glass  bottle  in  the  sun  for  a  few  hours. 
Cover  the  lower  part  of  the  bottle  with  black 
paper  ;  the  free  diatoms  will  then  separate  them- 
selves from  the  mud,  and  rest  on  the  surface. 


MICROSCOPIC  PLANTS.  26 1 

To  collect  desmids,  it  would  be  best  perhaps 
to  use  the  first-mentioned  collecting-bottle.  Our 
boys  easily  learned  to  detect  the  appearance  of 
the  vivid  green  desmids  from  the  olive-brown 
appearance  of  the  diatoms.  Further,  the  desmids 
love  the  surface  of  the  water  where  the  sun  can 
get  to  them  ;  whilst  most  of  the  diatoms  prefer  the 
shady  bottoms. 

Desmids  were  quickly  found — the  common  species 
in  abundance.  What  pretty  little  plants  they  are, 
as  green  as  spring  grass,  and  possessing  a  transparent 
greenness  you  will  not  find  in  any  other  kind  of 
vegetation  !  They  prefer  clean,  sweet  water.  A 
mountain  tarn  is  a  place  they  love  best.  I  have 
seen  forty  distinct  species  collected  from  one  such 
spot  in  North  Wales,  and  you  may  guess  the 
smallness  of  these  plants  when  I  tell  you  that  all 
were  mounted  within  the  ordinary  half-inch  circle 
of  a  slide.  My  "  show  "  pictures  indicate  the  mag- 
nifications of  each  kind,  and  will  also  give  an  idea 
of  their  minuteness. 

Each  desmid  possesses  a  transparent  case, 
usually  free  ;  but  also  not  unfrequently  attached. 
This  case  contains  the  green  colouring  matter, 
exactly  as  the  cell  of  a  green  leaf  does.  Desmids, 
therefore,  represent  single  free  cells.     Their  mode 


262  THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST, 

of  propagation  is  by  fission — that  is,  each  desmid 
splits  into  two,  the  two  originate  four,  four  eight 
and  so  on.  If  these  "  cells  "  cohered  together,  the 
result  would  be  a  leaf  or  some  other  vegetable 
structure  ;  but  as  each  is  "  free,"  no  coherence  of 
that  kind  takes  place,  and  therefore  no  "  growth  " — 
or  increase  in  bulk. 

You  can  hardly  pick  the  wrong  place  for 
desmids,  in  spite  of  their  preference  for  clean 
water — ponds,  ditches,  rivulets,  even  the  miniature 
tarns  made  by  footprints  of  cattle  in  marshy 
places  ;  anywhere  except  salt  water  (for  they  are 
purely  fresh-water  plants,  whereas  diatoms  live  in 
the  sea,  and  in  brackish  water,  as  well  as  under  the 
same  fresh-water  conditions  as  the  desmids). 

One  might  almost  declare  the  desmids  are  the 
food-stock  of  all  fresh-water  animalculae.  They 
furnish  an  abundant  foraging  and  hunting  ground 
to  myriads  of  infusoria,  rotiferae,  aquatic  worms, 
larvae,  etc. 

Among  the  commonest,  but  not  the  least  beauti- 
ful forms  are  Closterium,  Euastrum,  Cosmarium, 
and  Micrasterias.  There  are  about  forty  British 
species  of  Closterium  alone.  If  the  end  of  the 
frond  be  highly  magnified,  the  green  granules  are 
seen  circulating  at  the  end.     In  this  genus   there 


MICROSCOPIC  PLANTS. 


263 


is  a  double  and  perhaps  a  treble  method  of  repro- 
duction— by  self-division  (fission),  conjugation,  etc. 


yn 


"M 


."3>S 


i 


V 

V 

Fig.  335. — Closterium 
Leibleinii. 


^^g-  334-  —  Closterium  striolatum 
(magnified). 

In    every    frond    oi    Closterium    you    observe    a 
central  clear  space  dividing  it  into  two  segments. 


264 


THE   PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 


Here  a  gradual  separation  takes  place,  occupying 
some  hours  before  it  is  completed.  The  separated 
halves  then  each  commence  to  grow  independently, 
till  ultimately  a  copy  of  the  parent  form  is  assumed. 
This  is  an  outline  of  self-division.  Conjugation  is 
a  different  process.  Two  individuals  approach 
each  other  and  come  into  contact.  They  inter- 
mingle their  green  contents, 
and  a  curious  globular  body  is 
formed,  called  a  sporangium, 
which  is  believed  in  due  time 
to  produce  a  multitude  of  in- 
dividual spores,  which  ultimate- 
^  ly  grow  into  Closteria.  The 
operation  of  forming  a  sporan- 

Fig  336. -End  of  frond         -^    jg   g^-j    ^^  ^^  -^a 

01    Llostenjim   lumila      ^  j  r      ■> 

(highly  magnified).        ^^ly  occupying  a  few  minutes. 

A  writer  in  Science-Gossip  for  1866  says,  "The 
other  evening  I  saw  the  end  of  a  bright  green 
Closterium  seized  by  a  large  animalcule,  Notom- 
mata  myrmeleo,  and  subjected  to  the  action  of 
the  teeth.  Soon  I  found  that  the  particles  of 
chlorophyll  were  leaving  the  desmid  and  passing 
down  the  gullet  of  the  animalcule,  evidently  by 
suction,  and  I  watched  them  with  great  interest — 
first,  because  I  never  before  saw  a  rotifer  taking  a 


MICROSCOPIC  PLANTS. 


265 


salad  in  so  civilized  a  manner  (they  generally  take 
their  vegetable  diet  into  their  crops  by  a  rapid 
jerk,  particularly  when  it  is  small  enough  to  go 
down  whole)  ;  and,  secondly,  because  apertures 
at  the  ends  of  the  fronds  are  not  generally  believed 
in.  When  the  animalcule  had  finished  its  supper— 
that  is  to  say,  when  every  part  of  nutriment  was 
gone — it  cast  the  empty 
frond  among  others  that 
were  strewed  about,  and  I 
could  not  detect  the 
slightest  rupture  in  the 
delicate  transparent  case, 
which  a  few  minutes  be- 
fore was  so  full  of  green 
contents.     There  may  have  been  one,  nevertheless." 

"  It  is  astonishing  how  long  you  can  keep  these 
desmids,"  said  the  professor.  "  I've  kept  them 
for  six  months  even  in  closed  bottles,  in  the  sun- 
light, or  daylight  at  least  ;  and  it  is  equally 
astonishing  how  rapidly  they  increase." 

One  of  the  "  sweetest  "  of  these  microscopical 
gems  is  Micrasterias  rotata — a  flat,  almost  oval- 
shaped  object,  with  a  delicate  transparent  frill 
surrounding  the  disk  of  bright  green. 

Some  of  the  desmids  affect   a  social   life,  such 


Fig.  337. — Micrasterias 
rotata. 


266 


THE   PLAYTIME   NATURALIST 


as  Hyalotheca — rightly  named  so,  for  the  packed 
green  desmids  look  as  if  they  were  enveloped  in 


f5)-\ 


o 


\ 


-t-     .  _-■        n-     f.     »  *    ,     ll  ■-     -  ^     '-       J 


5     4 


J     -^tt^  i^ 


Fig-  3Z^- — Euastrum  oblongum  (front  view,   x  250). 


^'^Z'  339- — Euastrum  oblongum  (side  view). 


Fig.  340. — Cosmarium 
niargaritiferiwi. 


i*  V  *  tyt 


^f 


Fig.  341. — Ditto 
(empty  frond,  X  250). 


a  sheath  of  glass.     Then,  through  such  freshwater 
confervas  as  Ulothrix — to  be  gathered  everywhere 


MICROSCOPIC  PLANTS. 


267 


— and  the  exquisitely  lovely  Volvox  globator  (a 
perfect  vegetable  marvel,  cell  within  cell,  like  Mr. 
Boy's  electrical  soap-bubbles),  Spirogyra,  and  other 


Fig.  342. — Euastrum 


oblongiim. 


Fig.  343. — Euastrum 
f7iargaritiferu77i. 


Fig-  344. — Euastrum  didalta. 


-vr-^ 


^ 


Fig.  345. — Staurastrum  dejectum. 


■^ 


Fig.  346. — Staurastrum 
alternatis. 


fresh-water  algae,  we  ascend  to  those  complexer 
vegetable  forms  which  are  complexer  because  the 
cells  they  produce  cohere  together,  cause  increase 


268 


THE   PLAYTIME   NATURALIST 


of  bulk,  division  of  labour,  specialization  of  function, 
and  all  that  constitutes  higher  organization. 

In  the  Ulothrix  my  young  friends  soon  learned 
to  see  that  the  cells  were  in  reality  social  desmids, 
and  that  some  of  these  were  allowed  to  go  forth 


Fig.  347. — Staurastrum 
spongium. 


Fig.  348.  — Staurastrum 
gracile. 


free  at  certain  times,  and  return  to  the  habits  of 
their  ancestors,  for  reasons  which  were  of  benefit 
to  the  colony — viz.  reproduction. 

In  Spirogyra  (almost  like  Hyalotheca)  there  is 


Fig.  349. — Hyalotheca  dissiliens. 

a  very  pretty  arrangement  of  green  chlorophyll, 
but  in  bands  of  spiral  filaments,  all  enclosed  in  a 
similar  transparent  sheath.  The  cells  of  some  of 
the  bands  bud  forth,  and  manage  to  form  a  junc- 
tion, and  to  interchange  their  cell-contents.     When 


MICROSCOPIC  PLANTS. 


269 


this  is  complete,  the  combined  contents  of  the  two 
cells  become  an  oval  spore,  from  which  a  new  plant 


a.. 


a^.. 


a- 


a 


^3 


<\ 


f 


I    I 


/ 


\ 


A 


Fig.  350- — Ulothrix.      a.  Young  filament;    g,  ciliated  zoospores  j 
k,  one  day's  growth  ;  /,  two  days'  ditto. 


270 


THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 


Fig.  351. — Spirogyra  in  different  stages  of  growth  and  reproduction 

(magnified). 


MICROSCOPIC  PLANTS. 


271 


will  subsequently  spring.  The  transparent  wall 
allows  of  the  movements  of  certain  brown  bodies  to 
be  visible  (probably  zoospores).      The  contents  of 


Fig.  '7^K^2.— Volvox globator. 


L  T    «,p    ^^'^  -*»   Nl 


^       '«)«,-^T?* 


'^'-4 


Fig.  353- — Phyllactidm7n  pulchellum. 

the  cells  are  also  seen  to  change  into  green   zoo- 
spores, which  escape  from  the  ruptured  cell. 

A  singular  and  very  pretty  vegetable  form,  known 


2/2  THE   PLAYTIME  NA7URAL1ST. 

as  PJiyllactidiiimptilchelliim,  is  often  found  associated 
with  Voivox  in  the  same  pond.  In  short,  it  seems 
to  do  duty  in  winter  for  the  absence  of  Voivox 
which  is  then  in  the  resting  stage.  It  is  a  discoid 
water-weed,  which  only  requires  to  be  carefully 
looked  for  to  find  it  much  more  abundantly  than 
has  been  the  case.      Voivox  globator  is  sometimes 


Fig*  354- — Voivox  stellatum. 

found  enclosing  another  species  called  Voivox 
stellahim  (Fig.  354).  The  latter  is  beljeved  to  be  a 
form  of  ''alternation  of  generation,"  not  un- 
common among  the  lower  groups  o'i  life. 

The  Diatomacese  have  long  been  special  favour- 
ites with  people  who  possessed  good  microscopes. 
And  no  w^onder.  It  is  a  strange  sight  to  see 
minute,  canoe-shaped  objects  like  Navicula  (real 
"  little  ships,"  as  the  word  means),  and  Stauroneis 


MICROSCOPIC  PLANTS. 


273 


moving  slowly,  sometimes  jerkily,  amid  the  micro- 
scopic jungle  to  be  seen  in  any  gathering.  First 
they  move  this  way,  then  that  ;  and  to  this  very 
day  the  actual  secret  of  their  power  of  locomotion 
has  not  been  satisfactorily  made  out.  This  ghostly 
method  of  locomotion  caused  the  diatoms  to  be. 
formerly  included  among  Animalculse.  You  can 
hardly  go  to  the  wrong  place  for  them,  if  it  is  only 
very  damp.     Squeeze  a  handful  of  moss  out  of  a 

^1, 


Fig.  355. — Liparogyra  dentreteres.     a.  Arcuate  frond  ;  b,  straight 

filament ;  c,  valve. 

hedge-bank,  and  the  drop  of  water  will  be  almost 
certain  to  contain  species  of  diatoms.  The  same 
with  the  Sphagnum,  or  bog-moss  of  our  mountains, 
or  even  the  damp  walls  of  caves,  etc. 

Our  ardent  band  of  collectors  heard  the  above 
remarks  (or  some  of  them)  as  they  walked  to  and 
from  their  happy  hunting-grounds.  It  whiled  away 
the  time,  and  made  the  journeys  seem  comparatively 
short,  although  many  miles  had  been  done.     After- 


2/4 


THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 


wards  they  had  found  several  curious  diatoms,  such 
as  Liparogyra  dentata,  OrtJwsira  Dickzi,  Nitsschia 
vivax,  Pijimdaria  borealis,  etc.,  by  merely  washing 
the  specimens  of  bog-moss  out. 

Not    only   in    their   ability  to    live   in    salt  and 
brackish  water  (as  well  as  in  fresh)  do  the  diatoms 


Fig.  356. — Orthosira  Dressceri. 

differ  from  the  desmids,  but  still  more  importantly 
in  their  structure  ;  nevertheless,  the  diatoms  are 
only  single-celled  plants  like  their  confreres.  But 
they  possess  a  siliceous  frustule — that  is,  a  skin  of 
natural  glass,  which  remains  behind  long  after  the 


Fig.  357. — Nitzschia  vivax. 

organic  matter  of  the  plants  is  dead.  Indeed,  it 
is  these  accumulated,  indestructible  frustules  or 
valves  which  help  very  largely  to  form  the  accu- 
mulating black  muds  of  our  tidal  rivers  and 
estuaries,  as  well  as  that  along  the  bottoms  of 
lakes    and     ponds.       The    finest    '*  diatomaceous 


MICROSCOPIC  PLANTS.  275 

earth "    {kieselgnJir),    when    saturated    with    nitro- 
glycerine, becomes  the  explosive  dynamite. 

When  the  desmids  die  there  is  an  end  to  them  ; 
they  leave  no  trace  behind.  Not  so  with  the 
diatoms  ;  their  glassy  frustules  are  nearly  inde- 
structible. You  have  only  to  get  a  thimbleful  of 
black  mud,  and  place  it  in  a  wine-glass  ;  then  add  a 
strong  solution  of  sulphuric  acid.  A  very  strong 
smell  will  be  criven  off,  and  much  effer- 

fe ^ ^ 

vescence  visible.     That  is  a  sign  the     WmiuuAi^ 
acid  is  removing  the  organic  matter.  Fig.    358.— /'?'«- 

nidaria  borealis. 

Then  the  mud  ought  to  be  washed, 
and  the  settlings  filtered  ;  then  treated  with  nitric 
acid,  washed  again,  and  so  on,  until  only  a  little  grey 
powder  remains  behind.  That  grey  powder  will  be 
found  to  consist  chiefly  of  the  flinty  shells  of  diatoms 
Many  years  ago,  M.  Deby,  the  distinguished 
Belgian  microscopist,  published  a  very  minute 
account  of  how  a  diatom  was  constructed,  how  it 
managed  to  secrete  its  glassy  shell,  how  it  split 
itself  so  as  to  form  two  living  individual  diatoms 
where  there  had  previously  been  only  one.  "  You 
will  find  the  entire  paper  in  Science  Gossip  for 
1878,"  said  the  professor,  "translated  by  Mr.  Fred 
Kitton,  who  is  the  best  authority  on  the  subject  in 

the  world." 
13 


276 


THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 


How  beautifully  striated,  dotted,  ornamented  are 
these  microscopical  glass  cases,  intended,  somehow, 
for  the  use  and  service  of  the  very  lowest  orders 
of  plants  !  For  years  they  have  been  crucial  tests 
of  the  best  lenses,  and  many  a  long  and  windy 
article,  and  many  a  keen  discussion  too,  has  taken 


Fig.  359. — Section  of  a  diatom  commencing  deduplication.  A, 
Nucleus  and  nucleolus  ;  B,  protoplasm  ;  cc,  endochrome ; 
FF,  valves  (highly  magnified). 

place  as  to  whether  the  "lines"  on  certain  diatoms 
were  rows  of  dots  or  continuous  ridges.  Even 
scientific  people  quarrelled  over  their  differences  as 
political  people  now  do  on  Home  Rule  !  It  will 
be  a  long  time  before  the  world  gets  rid  of,  sloughs 
off,  its  inheritance  of  folly. 

Three  or  four  years  ago  Mr.  F.  H.  Lang  drew 
attention  to  the  exquisitely  lovely  markings  on  one 
diatom,   known    as    Stictodiscus    Califoriiicus  (Fig. 


MICROSCOPIC  PLANTS. 


277 


360),  found  in  a  deposit  in  the  country  to  which 
the  specific  name  alhides.  But  many  of  our  com- 
mon and  easily  found  British  species  are  quite  as 
beautifully  adorned.  Every  ornamental  pattern  is 
the  "  Broad-arrow  of  the  Great  King,  stamped  on 
ail  the  stores  of  his  arsenal." 

One  can  hardly  wonder  that  our  distant  fore- 


Fig.  360. — Stictodiscus  Californicus. 

fathers  associated  exquisite  loveliness  with  minute 
objects.  The  diminutive  fairies  were  always  beau- 
tiful, whilst  the  giants  were  always  ugly — at  least, 
in  the  story-books.  The  grace  of  God  ornaments 
the  invisible  flinty  valve  of  a  diatom  or  the  limey 
shell  of  a  foraminifer,  as  it  does  the  possession  of 
a  meek  and  quiet  spirit ! 


2/8 


THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 


Just  now  there  is  somewhat  of  a  "  rush  "  against 
teleology  —  the  matter-of-fact,  hard,  cut-and-dried 
(and  very  presumptive)  theology  of  our  grand- 
fathers.    Let  us  not  condemn  them,  although  the 


f^? 


?«^ 


W 


Fig.  361. — Pmnularia 
major. 


Fig.  362. — Statironeis 
Ph  ceiiicenteron . 


dreadfully  conservative  spirit  of  theology  has  a 
tendency  to  glorify  that  which  science  condemns. 
Our  forefathers  did  their  best,  as  honest  men,  to 
understand  God  and  His  ways.  If  they  did  not 
succeed  to  our  mind,  probably  they  did  in  spirit. 
He  must  be  worshipped   in   spirit   and    in  truth. 


MICROSCOPIC  PLANTS. 


279 


They  endeavoured  to  worship  Him  so,  according  to 
their  lights.  Now  that  science  comes  to  the  help 
of  a  reverent  man's  heart,  let  him  not  scorn  the 


\ 


Fig.  363. — Navicula  didyma. 


Fig.  364. — Phurasigtna 
formosum. 

day  of  smaller  and  feebler  and  even  more  bitter 
things. 

The  older  teleology  is  gone,  practically  dead,  and 


280  THE   PLAYTIME  NATURALIST 

almost  buried.  It  was  too  presumptive.  It  failed 
because  the  child  wanted  to  lay  down  the  rules  of 
government,  and  dictate  to  its  Wise  Father,  and 
teach  Him  how  to  rule  His  own  world,  although  it 
knew  nothing  of  the  infinite  battalions  of  suns  and 
planets.  Science  doesn't  know  everything,  even 
now.  Indeed,  the  fear  is  lest  modern  academic 
science  should  usurp  the  theological  chair,  and 
prove  doubly  dogmatic.  There  are  men  who 
would  dethrone  St.  Paul,  and  put  up  St.  Darwin 
in  the  vacant  seat.  Neither  St.  Darwin  nor  St. 
Paul  would  assent  to  the  change. 

The  truest  teleology  is  that  of  trying  to  "seek 
out  God,  if  haply  we  may  find  Him ! " — in  His 
works.  His  Word,  His  people.  Who  dares  say 
where  God  is  not  to  be  found,  when  we  see  He 
does  not  think  it  beneath  Him  to  ornament  the 
frustule  of  a  diatom  the  five-hundredth  part  of 
an  inch  in  length  so  beautifully  that,  when  the 
modern  "children  of  Israel"  behold  it  through  the 
microscope  for  the  first  time,  they  immediately 
think  how  capitally  the  ornamentation  might  be 
applied  to  a  new  kind  of  jewellery  ! 

Of  course,  all  my  young  readers  know  now  that 
I  have  been  employing  Jack  and  Willie  and  the 


MICROSCOPIC  PLANTS.  28 1 

professor,  and  the  rest  of  the  lot,  as  conscientious 
candidates  do  their  *'  friends  "  at  a  parliamentary 
election — for  what  use  they  can  make  of  them. 
I've  now  done  with  Jack  and  Willie  and  the  pro- 
fessor, and  even  Jack's  sister  and  cousins ;  they 
were  only  my  wax-works  ! 

But  possibly  my  young  readers  may  have 
learned  something  more  than  they  knew  before, 
because  of  my  batch  of  hypothetical  friends.  If 
so,  what  do  they  want  more  ?  If  they  have  eyes, 
pocket-lenses,  microscopes,  the  same  stock  of 
common  objects  are  available  to  them.  Codidwh 
only  to  the  multitude  who  regard  them  not ;  un- 
common to  those  who  see  in  every  living  object, 
animal  or  vegetable,  macroscopic  or  microscopic, 
additional  evidences  of  the  Fatherhood  of  a  com- 
mon God !  Verily,  the  life  we  live  and  lead  here 
becomes  then  only  the  ante-chamber  of  the  life  to 
come.  Its  lessons  and  illustrations  are  so  many 
side-lights  of  the  lessons  we  shall  learn  there.  If 
there  has  been  an  unbroken  continuity  on  our 
planet  in  geological  times  from  animalcule  to  man, 
from  the  Archaean  period  up  to  now,  where  is  the 
bold  sceptic  who  will  declare  that  the  stream  of 
that  vital  tide  shall  henceforth  be  arrested  ?  Who 
will   deny  the  possibility,  at    least,   of  its  flowing 


282  THE  PLAYTIME  NATURALIST. 

to  a  higher  level  yet  through  the  golden  gates 
beyond  ? — or  who  will  deny  that  the  total  sum  of 
the  life  of  the  world,  terrestrial  and  celestial,  may 
be  but  the  wonderful  development  of  a  Divine  idea, 
as  continuous  in  its  unbroken  evolution  as  that  of 
a  bird  from  the  q^^  ? 


INDEX. 


Amoeba,  242 
Antennae,  52 
Aphides,  105 
Arrenurus  integrator,  177 

sinuator,  1 74 

tricuspidator,  177 

•  truncatellus,  177 

Asilus  crabroniformis,  95 
Asterosporium,  253 


B 

Bee,  leaf-cutter,  89 

Birds- 
Blackcap,  42 
Blue  tit,  28 
Chaffinch,  29 
Cuckoo,  20 
Dipper,  39 
Goat-sucker,  43 
Jay,  22 
Kingfisher,  24 
Lapwing,  30 
Long-tailed  tit,  26 
Reed-bunting,  35 
Sand-martin,  32 
Sedge-warbler,  34 
Whinchat,  30 
Yellow-hammer,  29 


Birds'  eggs,  46 

,  arrangement  of,  48 

,  preparing,  for  cabinet,  46 

Blackcap,  42 
Bluebottles'  eggs,  56 
Blue  tit,  28 
Bombylius,  93 
Bramble,  brand  of,  253 
Brands  of  meadow-sweet,  bramble, 

etc.,  253 
Brown  lizard,  199 
Bucentes  geniculatus,  95 
Bulimus  acutus,  130 

obscurus,  129 

Butterflies,  51,  52 

,  eggs  of,  56 

,  killing,  81 

,  preparing,  for  cabinet,  81 

■ ,  scales  of,  55 

,  white  cabbage,  65 


Caterpillar  of  small  eggar  moth,  6S 

puss  moth,  70 

sphinx  moth,  69 

white  cabbage  butterfly,  65 

Caterpillars,  67 

,  miner,  62 

Chaffinch,  29 


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